Aura Guardian
by John J. J. Schmitt
Summary: HIATUS Daniel Numan is a boy from a little town in the Sinnoh region. Too young to start his pokemon journey, he spends most of his time alone. That changes when he saves a young Riolu. Danny finds out that he has an amazing gift, but it has a price.
1. Introductions

Chapter One: Introductions

Danny was a boy from a little town on the outskirts of the Sinnoh region. His full name was Daniel Numan, but his full name being used made his skin crawl so he told everyone that his name was Danny. He was a little shorter than most kids his age and he had rather unusual physical characteristics. His irises were an odd yellow color and his short hair, which was always a complete mess, was pure white. This had worried his foster parents at first because it didn't seem normal, but the doctors said that he was in perfect health. His skin was also darker than normal. It wasn't really all that much darker, but it was different enough to be noticable. Like a light tan after a short vacation. He wasn't the tallest, or the fastest, or the strongest boy in his town, but he was the bravest and one of the more intelligent kids you would ever meet with a complete lack of common sense. He had a good, chewy moral center; and he was the one kid who was always getting into trouble because he couldn't resist a good adventure. These would prove to be his most helpful assets later in his life. It was a chance meeting with an injured pokemon that would change his life forever.

Due to the town's geographical location, they hardly ever saw any pokemon traveling though the area. So, obviously, Danny was forced to do research through his computer as opposed to physically interacting with them. One day, when he was nine, he saw a Riolu caught in a chain-link fence on the outer edge of town. The pokemon was exhausted and wasn't going to make it out on its own. It looked like the Riolu had been traveling for some time and entered into more than its share of brawls along the way. Needless to say, Danny couldn't help but try to rescue the trapped pokemon. He took a few steps towards the Riolu and it suddenly whipped its head in his direction. This scared the living crap out of Danny, who had never seen a Riolu and consequently didn't know about their limited ability to sense those around them.

"What do you want? Stay back!" snapped the Riolu, obviously scared given his current state.

"I-- I just-- I just want to help." said Danny, startled by the pokemon's reaction to his existence.

"Like I haven't heard that before! I- I..." with that last syllable, the Riolu went limp. Danny assumed that the pokemon's shock at seeing him had aggravated his already fragile condition, causing him to pass out. Danny quickly ran over to the injured pokemon and carefully removed him from the fence. The Riolu didn't look like he was going to be able to keep itself alive without medical attention. Ignoring the pokemon's unusual weight, he picked up the Riolu and ran back into town.

Danny knew that his town was too small to have a pokemon center, but he also knew that his neighbor used to be a pokemon breeder before moving here. He should know what to do. After a few minutes, Danny arrived at his neighbor's house. He knocked on the door frantically.

"Mr. Harrison! Mr. Harrison!" he shouted. He heard the lock move and shoved with all his might on the door; knocking Mr. Harrison, who was on the other side, down to the floor.

"Hey! Be careful, Danny. I may be strong, but I'm not unbreakable. I mean, I'm almost 40!" said Mr. Harrison as he stood up and shut the door behind Danny.

"Mr. Harrison! I found this Riolu stuck in the gate on the south side of town. It passed out after seeing me. I think it's hurt bad." said Danny rapidly.

"Well." started Mr. Harrison, "First off, I told you to call me 'Brock', not 'Mr. Harrison'. Secondly, I'm not a breeder anymore. I haven't been for a long time."

"But Mr.... uh, Brock. You're the only one on this side of town who knows anything about pokemon care! Can't you do something?" pleaded Danny quickly as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.

"You know I can't refuse, Danny." explained Brock, "I was just warning you that I haven't done this is a long while and I'm not sure what all I could do. With that being said, would you be so kind as to place him on this table for me?" Brock smiled at Danny and walked towards a table in the middle of the room usually reserved for eating purposes. Danny smiled back and followed Brock to the table. Brock took a blanket out from under a chair beside the table and folded it over twice to make a pad. He then put it on the table. Taking special care not to hurt the Riolu further, Danny carefully placed him on the makeshift bed Brock had constructed. Brock began to look over the Riolu, making notes on a notepad he had taken out of his pocket.

"Will he be all right?" asked Danny.

"He looks like he's been in more fights than he has been able to handle." replied Brock, "I'm amazed he was still conscious when you found him. Did he make any motions or sounds that indicated where he may have any injuries?"

"No." said Danny, "He just told me to stay away and that he thought I was lying about helping him. I don't think that he trusts humans." An odd look came up on Brock's face and he stared at Danny.

"What did you say?" asked Brock very slowly.

"I said that he shouted at me to stay away and that he said he didn't believe I was really trying to help." responded Danny, confused by Brock's question. Brock continued staring for a few seconds and returned his attention to the injured pokemon on his kitchen table. He placed his notebook on the table and requested that Danny retrieve some bandages for him. Danny, although still confused, obediently went over to the cupboard behind him and took out a box of medical supplies. He had spent a lot of his time at Mr. Harrison's house, so he knew where most of the items were.

"Thank you." Brock said monotonously as he immediately began to wrap up the Riolu. Danny could only assume that the wrapped areas were broken bones, as the pokemon had no open wounds. The Riolu had multiple abnormal swellings and visible bruising in various areas of his body. He looked how Danny imagined a baseball would look if it could bruise and swell up. The pokemon winced as Brock wrapped his arm. Danny felt a sudden, sharp pain in his own arm that dissipated almost as suddenly as it had appeared. He rubbed the area that had hurt and noted subconsciously that it was the same part of the arm that Brock had just covered on the Riolu.

It took a large portion of the day, but Brock eventually finished patching up the pokemon. After making up a more comfortable bed on his couch, Brock let the Riolu rest up. Danny had fallen asleep at some point during the proceedings and was collapsed in a heap on the floor next to the table at which Brock had been working. Brock walked past him on his way to the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room. He decided to let Danny sleep for the time being. It would be easier to look through painful memories without someone else watching. Brock slid the bookcase to the right, revealing a safe. He spun the dial around to input the combination and opened his vault of shattered dreams. He reached inside and pulled out a stack of journals, each one marked with the name of a different region. He carefully looked through them and took out a particularly battered book. The cover had the words: "The Aura: a research journal written by Brock Harrison." He blew off a thick layer of dust and opened the book, barely maintaining his composure as he read the first line aloud to himself: "Dedicated to Ash Ketchum, my friend." He continued to read.

Danny awoke to the sound of quiet sobbing, but didn't get up. He knew that Mr. Harrison had truly horrible events in his past, and that he would never open up that safe unless someone's life depended on it. _Something very bad must have happened to that little pokemon._ thought Danny, _Mr. Harrison would never open those books for just anything._ Danny knew that Mr. Harrison had opened the safe for a reason. He came in without knocking one time and found him reading one of the books from the safe. Never before and never since had he seen Brock cry, until now. Danny heard Mr. Harrison stand up and return the books to the safe. Danny slowly sat up and watched him stack them gently, carefully close the safe, and wipe the tears from his eyes. Brock stood up and moved the bookcase back into place. Danny expected him to go directly back to doing something productive, but instead Brock stayed put and looked at the floor beneath his feet.

"So, you were watching." Brock said after a few minutes. Danny's heart stopped for an instant before returning to its regular pattern. _How did he know? _"It's alright, Danny. That's just a little trick that I learned when I was helping a--" He stopped as he voice almost broke and tears began to once again form. He forced himself to finish what he was saying. "An old friend of mine. A very old friend of mine." Brock seemed to drift away from the world for a moment before continuing his monologue. "I met him 25 years ago, when he challenged me to a battle. I was the Gym Leader in Pewter City at the time." Danny knew where that was because of his constant research. However, he was not aware of Mr. Harrison's previous Gym Leader status. He was becoming increasingly curious about where this story was going. Mr. Harrison had never told anyone about his past before. Brock continued: "I knew there was something special about him as soon as I saw him. That being said, I couldn't just give him the badge. He needed to earn it. We battled and he lost. He left, beaten but not defeated. He came back the next day, just as confident as he was the day before. He called out the pikachu that occupied the empty space on his shoulder. I called out my geodude. His pikachu managed to fry my geodude with one hit. It had become amazingly stronger than it was before, but I knew it was no match for my onix. I called it out and almost won, but the sprinkler system activated and severely weakened my onix. As he was about to order his pikachu to finish it, he stopped. He wouldn't accept a win that occurred because of an accident. He called back his pikachu and left. I managed to catch him before he left town and I gave him his rightfully earned Boulderbadge."

"What?" Danny interjected. He sat on the couch next to the injured Riolu, staring at Brock. "Why would you do that? He didn't win!" finished Danny. Brock chuckled softly.

"That's the same reaction he had." explained Brock, "I explained to him that there was more to being a good trainer than winning. A good trainer needs to have a sense of right and wrong, as well as a deep friendship with his pokemon. He had those qualities, which entitled him to the badge. I also decided to join him on his adventure. I'm not sure why I did it, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to go with him." He stopped for a moment, apparently deciding how best to proceed. Danny just looked at him with awe. _He was a Gym Leader? Why didn't he tell me?_ Then he remembered the books. _Those must be journals from his travels. If those alone can bring back memories painful enough to make Mr. Harrison cry, I can't imagine what it must be like for him to be telling me his life story._Brock's voice snapped him back into reality: "We ended up going through the entire Kanto region together, as well as the Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions. Everywhere we went, I kept journals about what we saw and learned. This particular journal--" He picked up the one journal that was left on the table. "--was originally started as a chronicle of our travels in the Sinnoh region, but it became something more. It became a research journal for understanding the Aura. It all began in the Sinnoh region..."


	2. An Explanation

Chapter Two: An Explanation

"Ash and I were traveling with a girl named Dawn at this point." explained Brock, "She saved Ash's pikachu when we first met her. Anyway, this is much later than that. I think I'll start here..."

----------

"Come on, guys!" Ash shouted to his friends as he ran.

"Pikapi pika pikachu!" Pikachu yelled in agreement with his trainer, running alongside him.

"Slow down, Ash!" Brock shouted back as he continued to breathe heavily, "We're not nearly as hyperactive as you two are!"

Ash looked behind him to see Brock and Dawn a few dozen yards behind him. He stopped and waited for them to catch up. After getting there, Dawn immediately chewed him out.

"What is wrong with you?!" she screamed, "How are you not even fazed by that run?! Are you immortal or something?!" Ash suddenly realized what had just transpired. He had just run three miles without so much as sweating. He wasn't even breathing all that hard. His heart was only a bit faster than normal.

"I guess it is a little odd..." he muttered as he scratched his chin.

"A little?!" Dawn retaliated, "Yesterday you couldn't even keep pace with me or Brock and today you could nearly outrun Pikachu!" Ash looked over at his little, electric friend and saw that even he was breathing hard after the sprint. He opened his mouth to supply an answer, but nothing came.

"I... I just ran." he tried to explain, "I didn't do anything different than I normally do. I just ran."

"I think I may have an explanation." stated Brock matter-of-factly, "You see, I've been reading up on the history and legends of the Aura Guardians ever since the incident at the Tree of Beginning." Ash faltered and hunched slightly. Brock noticed the reaction, but continued anyway. "The princess was kind enough to let me have a few books on the subject. Over the course of my reading, I discovered that the more powerful Guardians were capable of using their Aura consciously to fuel amazing feats of physical endurance and strength."

"So, what does that mean?" asked Ash, now standing upright with an incredibly confused look on his face.

"I can't say for certain," Replied Brock, "but it would seem that your Aura power is increasing."

"So, what does _that_ mean?" Ash repeated, still as confused as before.

"It means that you're becoming more able to use your Aura effectively." responded Brock. "You can use it in ways you couldn't before. For example, you can run at full speed for longer than normal because you are using your Aura to help you along."

"So, what--" WHAM!!! Dawn had punched Ash in the face and he was now flat on the ground with Pikachu trying to wake him up.

"Don't say it again!" she shouted, "You are so dense! He's trying to tell you that you can use the Aura better than before."

"I know that!" he shouted as he stood up. "I was going to ask 'So, what other stuff should I be able to do now?' but you decided that I needed to be punched!!" Ash glared at her. Dawn stared blankly for a moment before making the cutest smile she could manage.

"Oops! Sorry!" she said while maintaining the smile. Ash continued glaring at her. Brock felt a sudden chill and looked at Ash. He still looked really angry. What was going on? He was never an angry person. Brock looked directly into Ash's eyes for a moment and saw a flash of red. He knew that something was about to happen, but suddenly Ash smiled and placed a hand behind his head.

"I guess I did kind of deserve that." he said as he chuckled, "It did sound like I was about to say the same thing." They all laughed with him, but Brock was nervous. _What was that flash I saw before? _He thought. _What's happening to him? What's changing my friend?_Ash looked down at Pikachu. "Come on, Pikachu. We have a lot of traveling left to do today." Pikachu smiled and climbed up onto his shoulder.

"If you don't mind, I would prefer to walk the rest of the way." commented Dawn. Everyone laughed again and they continued on their way to the town. Brock noticed that Ash was unusually deep in thought for the rest of the day.

They ended up being delayed for too long with the discussion and had to camp in the woods that night. This was nothing new, but Dawn had apparently been expecting to make it to the town. She complained constantly until she went to sleep, an event very much welcomed by Ash and Brock. Pikachu had also fallen asleep at that point, leaving just Brock and Ash sitting by the fire. They sat in silence for the longest time, not even looking at each other. They just bowed their heads down and sat there. Brock was trying to work up the nerve to ask about before, when Ash unexpectedly broke the silence.

"You felt it, too?" he asked as he turned his head to look at Brock. Brock snapped his head toward Ash. He was taken completely off guard by the bluntness of the query. After a second, he found the will to respond.

"Yeah. I felt it." he said quietly, returning his head to its previous position.

"I thought so." Ash replied as he bowed his head again, "I had this feeling that you could tell." He sat in silence for a few moments before continuing to speak. "Ever since the Tree of Beginning, it's been happening. Every time that I get angry, I start to lose control and I have to use all of my strength to keep myself under control. It's because of the Tree. It unlocked something inside of me. It was when Lucario and I were using our Aura to save the Tree. I was about to die, and I knew it. The only thing going through my mind was the thought of saving the Tree. I had to save the Tree. But at the last minute, just before Lucario knocked me out of the way, I suddenly thought: 'What about me? Who's going to save me? Why should I die for this Tree?' I was angry that I had to die. I was truly angry. I wanted to kill the Tree to save my own skin." Ash began to cry. Brock saw the tears fall to ground, forming an expanding puddle. Ash kept going. "When Lucario knocked me out of the way, it was too easy to listen when he said to stay back. I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't move. When he died, I was crying. They weren't tears for the reason you thought they were. I wasn't crying because he died, I was crying because he died and I was happy about it. I was happy that I got to live. I WAS HAPPY!!!" Ash screamed the last sentence and sobbed uncontrollably. He was on his knees, pounding the ground repeatedly with his fist. "HOW COULD I BE HAPPY?!!! HE WAS DEAD!!!" He continued to cry and hit the ground as he fell down face-first. Behind him, still sitting by the fire, Brock was silent. Not even his breathing was audible. Then, for one of the few times in his life, Brock cried true tears of complete sadness.

Ash continued crying for what seemed like an eternity before he eventually fell asleep. Brock carried Ash to his sleeping bag and went back over to the fire. He looked into it and watched the flames dance around the burning wood. _So._ He thought. _Ash has been living with that the entire time. Amazing. He really is as strong as I thought he was. Even so..._

"I'll help you in any way I can, Ash." he said aloud, knowing that Ash couldn't hear him. "However, in the end... it may not be enough." He rummaged through his bag and found one of the books that he received from the princess. He opened it and started to read.

Ash awoke the next morning and didn't say anything at all. Brock was just as quiet. Even Dawn and Pikachu were observant enough to realize that they should avoid conversation. They didn't know why, they just knew that it was probably a good idea to leave the other two alone. They continued on their way to the town after the campsite was clean. Pikachu tried to cheer up his trainer in every way he knew, but nothing he did was enough to break the frown on Ash's face. It was a similar story with Dawn and Brock. At some point, Dawn snapped. She couldn't take the constant doom and gloom attitude.

"What is going on with you two?' she demanded, "Why are you so miserable?" Neither one of the two responded for a minute, but Brock finally said:

"Dawn, please. Just leave it alone."

"No!" she yelled, "One of you is going to explain why you're so upset!" Brock stopped and the rest followed suit. He turned to Dawn.

"Please, drop it." he said. Dawn stared with an expression of awe on her face. His eyes were open. For the first time ever, his eyes were open. Brock closed his eyes and turned back towards the direction of travel and started walking. Everyone else followed. Dawn was silent.

They arrived in the town a few hours later and voted to go to the pokemon center first. Upon arriving, they asked Nurse Joy to look at their pokemon and requested a room for that night. For the first time in his life, Brock wasn't the least bit interested in Nurse Joy. He was completely obsessed with helping Ash. Dawn gaped at Brock's lack of interest, but said nothing. Ash just sat on the bench on the opposite side of the room with his head in his hands. After a few minutes, Nurse Joy returned their pokemon. Dawn announced that she was going to check out the town and left. Ash wouldn't move from his spot, and Brock brought Pikachu and his pokeballs to him. Pikachu, seeing that his trainer was still sad, sat beside him and placed his head on his lap. Ash stroked Pikachu, but his face remained stuck in sadness. Brock sat down next to them. He needed to talk to Ash.

"Pikachu? Could you leave us alone for a minute, please?" asked Brock. Pikachu was visibly upset by the idea of leaving his trainer in this condition, but he jumped down and went to the other side of the room. Brock spoke to Ash: "Ash, is it your reaction to Lucario dying that's causing your depression?"

"Yes." Ash responded, "I still can't believe that I was happy. I don't think that I can live with the knowledge that I'm capable of those feelings."

"You know what that means don't you?" asked Brock.

"No." Ash replied.

"It means that you're a good person." explained Brock. Ash turned his head to look at him, a look of disbelief on his face. Brock explained his previous statement: "Only a completely evil person would be able to feel what you felt and accept it willingly, Ash. Having feelings of regret just means that you aren't evil after all." Ash looked at his hands for a minute, as if pondering what Brock had just told him. He turned back to Brock and said:

"Hey! You're right! Only someone totally bad wouldn't regret that situation." He smiled for the first time that day. Brock smiled back. Across the room, Pikachu had been counting the tiles on floor while he waited for Brock to finish talking with Ash. He glanced over and saw them both smiling. He smiled. He ran over to Ash and jumped into his arms. Ash hugged him.

"I'm so happy you aren't sad anymore!" Pikachu said. He looked up to find Ash staring at him. His smile had been replaced with a blank look. Pikachu was understandably freaked out.

"Ash, what is it?" asked Brock. Ash was deathly quiet for a moment, but responded after a few seconds:

"I just understood what Pikachu said." Brock's smile faded.

"What?" asked Brock.

"Pikachu said that he was happy I wasn't sad anymore." replied Ash.

"This could be a bad sign, Ash" said Brock. "For now, however, it's a good thing!" Ash shot Brock another look of disbelief. Brock smiled and once again explained himself: "You can talk with Pikachu, Ash! How is that a bad thing?" Ash looked back at Pikachu. Pikachu mimicked Brock's smile and said:

"He's got a point, you know."

"You're right." said Ash as his smile returned, "I've always wanted to talk with you."

----------

"Hold up!" said Danny, "I'm lost. What's the bad that's happening here?"

"I'm sorry if you're confused, Danny." responded Brock, "Simply put, Ash was losing his ability to discern right from wrong and it had something to do with his growing powers. When he was able to understand his pikachu, it was a sign that his powers had increased again. This meant that there was also an increased danger of him losing control again."

"Oh." said Danny, "That makes more sense."

"Right. Back to the story." said Brock.

---------

"I've always wanted you to understand me." replied Pikachu.

"There is a problem, Ash." stated Brock. His smile had disappeared.

"What do you mean?" Ash and Pikachu said in unison. However, since Brock could only understand Ash, he continued addressing only him.

"Dawn and Pikachu need to know the story, Ash." explained Brock. Ash's smile vanished.

"What's he talking about, Ash?" Pikachu asked his trainer.

"I-- I-- I'll tell you when Dawn gets back, okay?" Ash struggled to get his answer out.

"Okay." Pikachu reluctantly accepted the wait. "What do you want to do in the meantime?"

"I'd love to know some more about you." answered Ash, "I mean, I really don't know all that much about you. I could never understand you before, so I couldn't ask you questions about where you came from and how Professor Oak ended up with you." Pikachu decided that this was a good idea and began to tell Ash his life story. Brock sat next to them, watching the trainer and his pokemon. He looked at the two best friends that ever existed and sighed. _They really are meant for each other. _He thought. _I can only hope that we find out what we need to know before it's too late..._

Dawn showed up later that afternoon, and Brock suggested that they go to their room in order to tell her and Pikachu what was happening. There was a long discussion between the four of them that explained everything that had happened. At the end of his recitation of the events at the Tree of Beginning, Ash was crying again. The other three were also crying, but not nearly as hard. Ash had his face buried in his hands as he sobbed. Pikachu was hugging Ash's abdomen and Brock and Dawn had their arms around Ash's shoulders.

"Ash," started Dawn, "we had no idea." Ash's crying continued.

"I'm sorry, Ash." Pikachu said, "I never knew that you went through so much."

"That's my fault." Ash somehow said through his sobbing, "If I couldn't handle knowing what happened, I didn't think that any of you could. I guess I was wrong."

"Ash, we're your friends." replied Brock. "We'll always be there for you." Ash's sobbing intensified. His friends continued to hold him as he cried. The four friends sat there for the rest of the day. At some point, Ash's crying tired him out and he fell asleep. They carried him to his bed and put him there to sleep. His friends returned to the other side of the room. Pikachu was the first to break the silence.

"Pikachu pika pikapi chu?" he asked. Brock looked at him and smiled.

"I don't need Aura powers to understand that." Brock responded. "You can help by researching the Aura Guardians with me." Pikachu returned the smile.

"Pika!"

"What about me?" interjected Dawn.

"The same." answered Brock, "I need as much help as possible if we're going to find out what's going on with Ash." Brock pulled three books out of his bag and placed them on the bed. "Might as well get started." he said. The three researched all night. They sat in silence, reading the books and looking for an answer to the question that was on all of their minds: What was happening to Ash? Dawn and Pikachu eventually fell asleep on the bed, and Brock moved to the floor. After that got uncomfortable, he started to pace the room while he read. Hours passed without any clues as to what was going on. At about 6:30 the next morning, Brock stopped. He reread the section again just to be sure that he hadn't made a mistake.

"No..." he fell to his knees and let the book fall. The sound caused Ash to wake up. He looked over at Brock, on his knees and staring at the ground.

"What's going on, Brock?" he asked. Brock didn't answer for a moment, but then turned to Ash.

"I know what's wrong with you." he said with a forced smile. Ash saw right through the facade.

"Brock, what is it?" he demanded. Brock's smile faded and was replaced by a frown as tears began to form in his eyes.

"I'll tell you when Pikachu and Dawn wake up." replied Brock.

"Brock, tell me!" Ash shouted.

"Ash, please wait." Brock pleaded. After a few seconds, Ash nodded and went back to sleep. Brock stayed on his knees. _I'm so sorry, Ash. _He thought. _I'm sorry that I have to give you your death sentence. I'm sorry that I have to tell you. I'm sorry._Dawn and Pikachu woke up about two hours after that and Ash another 20 minutes later. They all looked at Brock, who was sitting against the wall and holding the book he had been reading.

"Alright, Brock." said Ash. "They're awake; now tell me what you found." Brock sat for a minute before he responded.

"You're sick." he answered. "You have a disease and if we don't find the cure soon, you will die." Ash looked at him with a mixed expression of misery and disbelief, Dawn gasped, and Pikachu bowed his head.

"How is that possible?" Ash asked. Brock put the book on the floor next to him and began to tell him what he discovered. He told them that a thousand years ago, the Aura Guardians were a prominent group of people in the world. They were the heroes of the time. Then they suddenly vanished. No one really knows what happened, but it seemed that they found something they regretted finding. They tried to destroy it and they failed. In fact, it is believed that the methods they used to try to destroy the object were what eliminated them. In trying to get rid of whatever it was that they found, they ended up creating a sort of virus that affected the entire Aura Guardian population. Anyone who had already been through adolescence was safe, but the younger Guardians were nearly all killed. The virus was dormant until the infected person hit adolescence, at which point it would increase their Aura power exponentially. However, this power gain came with a cost. It would erode the sanity of the individual, causing them to attack without discretion and kill whatever made them angry. If the person could keep themselves under control until they got through adolescence they would become immune to its effects, but almost none of the youth survived. In response, the High Council put up some sort of Aura power barrier which made it so that no new Guardians could be born for a thousand years. They were hoping that the virus would die off with no new hosts, but they underestimated the strength of what they had unwillingly created. It survived to this day, and it had infected Ash. His actions at the Tree of Beginning had accelerated the effects of the virus.

The group sat in silence. For what seemed like an endless period of time, no one said anything. Dawn shattered this barrier of unspoken intentions.

"What can we do?" she asked as she looked at Brock.

"There were unconfirmed reports of a clan of the Guardians living in the Orange Islands who had discovered a cure." replied Brock, "They created a machine that would purge a Guardian of the virus, but by the time it was ready there were no Guardians left who needed it. They realized that the device would be needed when the barrier broke down, so they split it into four parts and hid them in each in a different region. Specifically, the Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh regions. They put them in places that only a Guardian could reach, to keep others from finding them and using them."

"So, where are they?" asked Ash, who was obviously worried.

"I don't know." answered Brock, "There was no information on what was done with the pieces other than what I already told you." Ash and company spent the rest of the day arguing over what they were going to do with this knowledge. They eventually decided that they would abandon their contest and league challenges until they had found a cure for Ash. Tomorrow they would start out for the Tree of Beginning to see what they could find. Sleep didn't come easy to anyone that night, but everyone managed to find it.

The next morning, Dawn and Brock woke to the sound of Pikachu sobbing. It didn't take them long to find the cause of the pokemon's sadness. On the bed where Ash slept were his pokeballs, his badges, a note, and his hat. Pikachu was holding his hat and sitting on the corner of the bed, wailing. Brock picked up the letter and read it aloud:

_"I can't stay knowing that I could endanger you all. I can't live through losing another friend. I'm sorry that I have to leave. Please tell everyone what happened. Give my pokemon the options of staying with one of you, staying with Professor Oak, or being released. Dawn, I want you to continue your quest to be the best pokemon coordinator. At least one of us should fulfill our dream. Brock, thanks for your friendship over the years. I hope that I see you again. Pikachu, I'm sorry. I had to leave you behind. I could never live with it if I hurt you. Lastly, I have to request one thing of all of you: Please, don't look for me. -Ash"_

Brock was crying, as was Dawn. They stood there for a while before they carried out Ash's last requests of them. Brock and Dawn took turns calling Ash's friends and family to explain what happened. Every single one had the same reaction: disbelief, denial, breakdown. Ash's mother was the worst of them all. She nearly broke the speaker on the videophone. All of Ash's pokemon voted to stay with Professor Oak until he returned. Pikachu had run off earlier that day. They could only assume that he was going after Ash. Brock sent Ash's Sinnoh region badges to his mother in Pallet Town. Dawn honored Ash's last request of her to become a professional coordinator. Brock thought about returning to Pewter City, but came to the conclusion that any familiar surrounding would remind him too much of Ash. He elected to stay in the Sinnoh region and informed his family of it. He returned his pokemon to Pewter City to help Flint at the Gym there. After finding a quiet, little town on the outskirts of the region, he settled down and became the town handyman. He did odd jobs for people in the town and cooked for various members of the community who couldn't look after themselves. Over ten years later, he found a baby boy on the outer edge of town and brought him to the town doctor. Brock knew that he couldn't care for the child himself, but he decided that he would be the best friend that he could. Over the course of the next nine years, he did exactly that.


	3. Realizations and Ramifications

Chapter Three: Realizations and Ramifications

"I already knew that last part, Mr. Harrison." Danny said flatly.

"Danny..." Brock said, rather annoyed.

"Oh! I mean Brock!" corrected Danny.

"Better. Anyway, I just needed to show you that his leaving was actually the direct cause of my being here in the first place." explained Brock. Danny was still sitting on the couch with the injured Riolu and Brock was sitting in a wooden chair across the room from him.

"I never knew you had to go through that, Brock." said Danny, "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I didn't tell anyone for the same reason that Ash left without telling us." replied Brock, "It would have been too painful of an experience."

"I hate to sound like I don't care, but what does this have to do with me or the injured pokemon?" Danny asked. Brock stared at him for a minute before answering.

"You mean... you really didn't get it?" he asked, astonished.

"Get what?" Danny shot back. Brock laughed as he continued:

"Danny, you may be the smartest kid I've ever met, but sometimes you're just as clueless as... well, just as clueless as Ash used to be. Now, that's saying something!"

"What are you talking about?" Danny demanded, his patience wearing down.

"Alright, if I really have to, I'll explain this again." responded Brock, "You told me that the Riolu said to stay away."

"Yes." stated Danny.

"And I told you that Ash's ability to talk to Pikachu was a sign of his increased Aura powers."

"Yes." Danny stated again. He looked at Brock, expecting more. Brock was making odd hand motions, hoping that Danny would finally get it. Then, it happened. It was as if the world's biggest light switch had just been hit. The sudden realization was nearly audible. Danny slapped himself in the face. "Doh! Stupid! How could I have not gotten that?! Stupid!" He exclaimed. Brock laughed again.

"Finally! I was hoping that you would get it before I had to spell it out." he said. Danny shot a dirty look at him and confirmed his hypothesis.

"So, you're saying that I have the ability to control this 'Aura' stuff?" he asked.

"Yes." Brock answered. "Only an Aura Guardian or an extremely powerful psychic could understand pokespeak." Danny's happiness faded instantly when he made the connection that Brock had been trying to tell him.

"Wait." he said quietly, "Doesn't that also mean that I'm going to end up like that guy Ash?" There was an extreme amount of worry in his voice. Brock's good mood also faded upon hearing Danny's query.

"Not if I have anything to do with it, Danny." he responded after a minute, "I had to live through that once, I'm not letting it happen again." He smiled and picked up the last journal that he had left on the table. He handed it to Danny. Danny took it with a bit of confusion.

"You're giving me this?" asked Danny, astounded, "This is the last evidence you have that one of your friends even existed, and you're giving it to me?" Brock continued to smile at him.

"It would seem that I left out an important detail." he began, "That book has all the information you need in order to find the machine the last Guardians created. After Ash left, I spent all of my time that I hadn't devoted to other things finding the pieces of the machine. I put all of my discoveries into that book. With that book, Danny, you can find the machine to save yourself and all of the Aura Guardians that will come after you." Brock was smiling, but Danny was still frowning.

"I'm only nine!" he exclaimed, "I can't leave with a pokemon for another eight months! What do i do? I could leave without telling anyonebutthatwouldresultinanamberalertandall..." He began to speak so fast that any attempt to understand him would be wasted. Brock was about to intervene, but Danny slapped himself and began speaking an understandable language again. "So, I'm left with the options of waiting or getting my foster parents to let you 'escort' me on the journey." He smiled hopefully. Brock returned his smile with an emotionless face.

"Danny, as much as you might not like it, you really need those eight months here. They would be the perfect time to find a pokemon to take with you and train with it." Danny's hopefulness faded as he drooped his head.

"He's right, you know." said a voice beside him. Danny turned to see the injured Riolu sitting up next to him.

"Hey!" said Danny as he placed the book on the couch next to him, "When did you wake up?" The Riolu shifted slightly and winced.

"I've actually been awake for a while," he explained, "I was just in too much pain to move until now." He made his best attempt at a smile, but he was hindered by the massive amount of damage he had taken. "I woke up when Old Mister What-his-face over there started telling his story." Brock was just sitting silently, unable to understand what the pokemon was saying but still knowing that he was being referred to. "I believe that I have the two of you to thank for saving me. I think that I would enjoy going along with you, if you'd have me."

"Wow, thanks!" replied Danny. "Hey, Brock, did y--" He looked at Brock. He was sitting there, waiting for a translation. "Oh, right. I forgot. He said that he was thankful we saved him and that he'd like to come along with us."

"Ah." said Brock, "Well, then. Since Danny can't leave for eight months, I suggest that you use that time to train and become better acquainted. I have other matters that I need to attend to. I'll be here if you need me, but I won't be able to help with your training." Danny was sad for a moment, but was suddenly happy again.

"Right!" he said as he stood up, "In eight months, we'll be the best team ever!"

"Can I heal up a bit, first?" asked the Riolu in a joking manner, "I don't think I can do a whole lot at this point." Danny's triumphant stance was rendered pointless and he sat down. He was about to speak when there was a knock at the door.

"Harrison? Are you there?" asked the voice. Danny looked at the clock. He froze as he realized that he had been at Brock's house all day and it was now 10:30 at night. He looked at the door over the back of the couch as Brock answered it.

"Oh, hello Numan." he greeted. Danny flattened himself against the couch as to avoid being seen.

"Is Danny here? He's been out all day." asked Mr. Numan.

"Yes." answered Brock, "I was just telling him about an old friend of mine, and I guess we lost track of time." Mr. Numan gave him a look of disapproval, but softened after a second.

"No harm done." he said, "It's just that we were getting worried because he's never been out this late before."

"Would you like me to get him?" asked Brock.

"Yes, please." replied Mr. Numan. Brock walked across the room, into the next, and stopped by the couch.

"Danny, Mr. Numan is here." he stated.

"I know." responded Danny. "Do I have to go?" Brock leaned down and whispered:

"I'll keep your friend here tonight. He should be okay to move tomorrow. Stop by at around noon. We'll work out the details of the trip then." Danny smiled.

"Okay!" He then ran to Mr. Numan and left with him. Brock shut the door behind them. He walked over to the couch again.

"You're a fighting type, right?" he asked. Riolu nodded. "Alright, I'll get you something to drink and then I'll whip up some food for you." Riolu smiled as best he could and watched Brock fiddle around in the kitchen. Brock pulled out his herbs and spices and began to make his famous pokemon food from memory. When he finished, he placed the food in Riolu's lap and waited for him to try it. Riolu took a piece and ate it. He instantly smiled and started to devour all of the food that he had been given. "I've still got it." Brock said to himself. When Riolu finished, he promptly fell asleep. Brock took the bowl away and covered Riolu with a blanket. He then cleaned up the kitchen and went to sleep himself.

Danny spent the next morning impatiently waiting for noon to come around. He did his standard waiting activities, he researched Riolu and Lucario online, he finished a few crosswords, but he did all of this before ten. He felt like he was going to explode. Then he remembered the exact wording of Brock's sentence: 'around noon.' Ten is 'around' noon by somebody's definition! He sprinted over to Brock's house. When he got there, he was surprised to hear voices inside. He peeked through the window and saw Brock talking with Mr. Numan. There was an air of shared amusement and agreement among the two. Danny watched as Brock explained something to Mr. Numan, and then they both stood and walked towards the door. Danny panicked and ran to the side of the house. The door opened and the conversation became audible.

"I'm so glad you agreed, Mr. Numan." said Brock. He shook Mr. Numan's hand.

"Well, at least you'll be with him and he'll be away from that god-forsaken computer of his." said Mr. Numan. Brock waved as Mr. Numan walked down the path to his house. _What were they talking about?_ Danny thought.

"Danny." said Brock. The sound of Brock's voice startled him. He looked back towards the door to see Brock looking directly at him. "I have great news! Come inside!" Brock moved back into the house. _I have got to ask him how he does that._ Danny thought as he walked into the house. He sat on the couch where the injured Riolu was still resting. Brock went to the bookcase to get something.

"Hi. How are you feeling?" he asked Riolu. Riolu shifted with a little less difficulty than the day before and smiled as he answered:

"Better! Your friend here is the best chef ever!" Danny smiled back.

"That's great, uh... you know, I don't have any idea what your name is. We've just been calling you 'Riolu' because that's what you are." Riolu changed his expression to the closest he could get to sad and responded:

"I don't have a name. My parents were killed shortly after I was born and I was left to fend for myself. Hence, the massive beating." He motioned to himself with his good arm. "I've been on my own for years now. A lot of Riolu my age have evolved by now, but our evolution is based on happiness. Today is the happiest day I've had in a while, and I have had the crud beat out of me." Danny looked at him in his bandages.

"I see." he said. He smiled. "Well, we're just going to have to give you a name." Riolu was surprised by this comment and he winced as he involuntarily perked up. "Let's see, you don't look like a 'James' and you can't possibly be a 'Drew'." Danny sat for a moment, pondering a name for the little pokemon beside him. He snapped his fingers. "Cole! We'll call you Cole. Does that sound good?" Riolu thought for a few seconds.

"Sounds great!" replied Cole.

"It's good to know that you're feeling better, Cole." said Danny. Brock came back into the room holding a small box. He gave it to Danny. "What's this?" he asked.

"Open it." Brock said with an amazingly happy look on his face. Danny had no choice but to open the box. Inside were six pokeballs and a pokedex. This wasn't just any pokedex, this was a pokedex with the name Daniel Numan on it. This was Danny's pokedex.

"Brock..." he said,"...this is... how did... thanks... happy..." He attempted to communicate using an actual language, but failed. Brock just smiled at him. _So this is what he was talking about with Mr. Numan. _Danny thought, _He was convincing him to let me leave on my adventure. If only I could speak!_ He continued spouting gibberish for a few minutes, but managed to say "Thank you" at some point. Brock told him that it wasn't any problem, he had been looking forward to the day this happened. He also told him that Mr. Numan had consented to having the newly named Cole stay with Danny. The gibberish spout seemed to have an unlimited supply of fuel that day. The gibberish turned to hysterical laughter. Cole looked at him, worried that his head might just pop off his shoulders and start flying through the air.

"He'll be fine." Brock said as he noticed Cole's uneasiness. "Just give him a few minutes." Cole nodded, but still kept staring at Danny. He had started drooling. "Okay, now we might need to intervene." Brock admitted. He smacked the side of Danny's head.

"What was that for?" Danny demanded, back to being himself.

"You started drooling." said Cole.

"Oh." he said, "Right, then. What's our plan, Brock?" Brock sat down in the wooden chair he had occupied the night before.

"First off, we need wait until you two have had time to train before we leave." Brock answered. Danny was clearly disappointed, but had expected as much. "After you two are in fighting shape, we'll head to the nearest big town for supplies. Then we are bound for Mt. Coronet. Mr. Numan has agreed to let you stay here as often and as long as you like while you're training, which helps because any training advice will come from me." Brock smiled. "For now, you will have to hold off on the training because Cole's arm will be in that cast for a while."

"I can walk, though." said Cole, "I would like to see the rest of the town." He grinned.

"Sure, we can go right now!" Danny replied. "Could you hold onto these for me, Brock?" He handed the box to him. Brock nodded and took the box from Danny. Cole and Danny proceeded to leave Brock's house. Brock walked over to the bookcase that hid his safe and pushed it aside, revealing his box of secrets. He opened it and put the box back where it had been before. Right next to a pokeball with a small lightning bolt on it. Brock closed the safe and walked to the window in the living room. He watched as Danny showed Cole every little thing there was to see in the town as he sat on Danny's shoulder.

"Like father, like son." said Brock.

"Yes, very much so." replied a figure behind him.

"Who was his mother?" asked Brock. The figure behind him was startled by the blunt query.

"She was a traveler from the Johto region." the figure replied in a sad tone, "She loved me. She was so happy to be with me that I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I didn't love her back. After he was born, she was dying. I told her the truth and she didn't care. She loved me and that was all that mattered to her. Her only request was that his name be Daniel." The figure wiped a few stray tears from his eyes although Brock wasn't looking at him anyway.

"I hope that he makes it." commented Brock as he watched Danny and Cole through the window.

"So do I, Brock." said the figure, "Hey, do you mind if I take a bit of this bread?" Brock smiled.

"Some things never change." Brock responded. "Take as much as you like." He heard the shuffling of feet and the movement of the bread. "I can't do this on my own." he said, hoping that the universe would honor his request. "He needs his dad for this."

"I know." the figure replied, "I'll be there when he needs me to be."

"He needed you when he was born." said Brock angrily. "Stop acting like your father. You can't just brush him off because you're afraid of the responsibility!" The figure behind him drooped slightly and sighed.

"Alright, Brock." he said, "Soon, but not today. I need a little more time."

"Don't take too long." Brock answered. "He may not have that much time left." He heard a subtle 'whoosh' and turned to find the room just as it was, minus a loaf of bread. He smiled as he looked at the vacant spot on the table. "Some things never change." he said again.

Danny continued down the road, pointing out all of the interesting things in town. Cole sat on his shoulder, looking at what Danny was describing. Danny noticed that he was happy. Happiness is to be expected when you make a new friend, but this was different. He was happy because Cole was happy and Cole was happy because Danny was happy. Danny ignored the feeling for now, but knew that he would have to investigate it later. He showed Cole his house, the town shop, the bakery, and any other place he could think of. On their way back to Brock's house, Danny decided to take a short detour through the woods. Danny didn't understand it, but he had a feeling that Cole would like to see the woods. Sure enough, when they started going through the trees and grass, Cole became more relaxed.

"You like the woods?" asked Danny as he walked.

"Oh, yes." replied Cole, "I don't like cities or towns much at all. By the way, why did you decide to go this way? Isn't Brock's house the other way?"

"I'm not sure why I went this way." Danny responded, "I just had a feeling that you would like it." Cole looked at him quizzically for a moment before returning to looking at the forest around him. He sighed happily. Danny also felt oddly happy at that point. He stopped and carefully put Cole on the ground. "Something's going on here." he said.

"I know what you mean." replied Cole. "It's like you're happy because I'm happy." Danny's stomach growled.

"Well, I think we should go back to Brock's house because at least one of us is hungry." he said. Cole's stomach returned the growl.

"I think that's both of us." he said, smiling. Danny returned the smile and placed Cole back on his shoulder. He walked out of the forest and over to Brock's house. Upon arriving, they first requested something to eat and then told him about the events that had occurred.

"I think we can sense each other's feelings." Danny concluded. Brock continued cooking dinner as he replied:

"That's a reasonable conclusion. However, I think that it's a little more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?" asked Danny.

"I mean that I think that the cause is a bit more than you being an Aura user alone." answered Brock, "I think that when you rescued Cole, you two became bonded somehow." Danny stared at him with a confused look on his face.

"What. Do. You. Mean." he said slowly. Brock stopped long enough to give Danny an irritated look and then continued cooking as he explained his hypothesis:

"When you brought Cole to me, he was unconscious. I think that his Aura was reaching out for something to hold on to and since you were the only one in the room capable of sensing the Aura, his Aura clamped onto you. This created the bond that you two have now."

"Is that the only reason we became friends so fast?" asked Danny, worried.

"Danny," answered Brock, "You two may have a bond that strengthens it, but the friendship would have been there anyway. You saved his life. That's a friendship-creating thing."

"He has a point, you know." interjected Cole, "Whether this bond existed or not, I would have been your friend. Saving my life proves to me that I can trust you." He smiled. Danny smiled as tears formed in his eyes.

"Thanks, Cole." he said.

"Don't thank me, Danny." Cole replied, "All I did was tell you the truth." Brock, who could tell that Cole was reassuring Danny even though he couldn't tell what he was saying, smiled as he put their respective plates down in front of them.

"Dinner's ready." he said. Danny and Cole both dove into their food. After a minute, they both sensed that the other was really enjoying his food. They glanced at each other and stopped eating. Without speaking, they traded their plates. There was a joint curiosity between them. Danny sampled Cole's food as Cole took a bite of Danny's food. Brock was staring at them, waiting for some sort of cataclysmic event. Instead, Danny and Cole smiled at each other and continued eating. Brock almost fainted and was forced to sit.

"What's up?" said Danny through a mouthful of pokemon food. Brock stared at him for a second before he was able to answer.

"You mean, you actually like it?" he asked with disbelief.

"Should I not?" he asked after he swallowed.

"Not really." Brock answered, "Every other person I've met who tried pokemon food nearly vomited." Danny frowned and then smiled.

"I think it's excellent!" he exclaimed.

"Me, too!" yelled Cole. They returned to eating. Brock looked at the pair for a moment before he ate his own dinner. He chuckled softly as Danny and Cole chowed down. After they had all finished, Brock cleared the table and cleaned up while Danny chatted with Cole as they sat on the couch.

"So, what kind of stuff do you like to do?" Danny asked.

"Most of the time I just sit by myself and watch things." responded Cole. "What do you do?"

"While I do enjoy being outside, there really hasn't ever been anyone here to spend time with other than Brock." answered Danny, "I mostly spend time researching random things on my computer." Cole looked confused.

"What's a computer?" he asked.

"Oh, that's right." commented Danny, "You've never been around people's houses before. I'll show you at my house tomorrow." Cole still looked confused, but he nodded. He was about to speak again when Danny suddenly shouted:

"Oh! I completely forgot about it! Brock, where'd you put that box?" Brock looked over at him.

"I'll get it in a minute, Danny." he replied, "I'm almost done in here."

"What did you forget?" asked Cole. Danny smiled.

"Well," he said, "if you're going to be my pokemon for my journey, I need to capture you once." Cole started to panic a bit, but Danny reassured him. "Don't worry. I only have to do it once, and I'll let you out as soon as it's done." Cole still wasn't too sure, but he calmed down a bit.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"Um, I don't know." replied Danny, "I'll ask. Hey, Brock, does capturing hurt a pokemon?" Brock walked towards him with the box.

"Not at all." he said as he handed the box to Danny. "If it did, we would never use pokeballs." Danny smiled at Cole.

"See?" he said, "Nothing to worry about." Cole calmed a bit more, but was still nervous. Danny took out one of the pokeballs. "Alright, here we go!" He tossed the pokeball at Cole. It hit him and he disappeared in a flash. The pokeball fell onto the couch and didn't wiggle even once. Danny felt lightheaded and shook his head a little. "Something tells me that was incredibly disorienting." he commented as he picked up the pokeball. He pushed the button on the front and released Cole in another flash of red. Cole looked at the sphere with disgust.

"Let's not do that again." he shuddered. Danny promised he wouldn't put Cole back in the ball unless he agreed to. After a second, Danny smiled and shook Cole's good arm. "What are you doing?" asked Cole.

"A handshake is a way of saying 'congratulations' in human society." he explained, "Congrats, Cole! You're officially my first pokemon!" Cole smiled.

"I hate to interrupt," interjected Brock, "but it's about ten and you guys need to rest sometime before tomorrow."

"Oh." Danny said with a frown, "I guess you're right." Cole frowned as well, but nodded in agreement.

"You can stay in my room. I'll man the couch." said Brock. Danny picked up the box and then both he and Cole walked over to Brock's bedroom and shut the door. Brock pulled a pillow out from under the couch and laid down on the said couch. "I look forward to seeing what battle skills you inherited, Danny." Brock said to himself, "You've already inherited your father's appetite." With that, he fell asleep.

Meanwhile, a dark figure leaned against a tree. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he put her picture back into his pocket. He hadn't seen her since the Wallace Cup. He missed her so much, but she would hate him for leaving for so long.

"I wonder how she's doing?" he asked rhetorically, fiddling with half of a ribbon that he kept in his pocket. An untold number of miles away, she wiped the tears from her eyes as she put away his picture. She hadn't seen him since the Wallace Cup. She still loved him after all these years, and she just wanted to see him again.

"I wonder how he's doing?" she asked rhetorically as she held half a ribbon that she kept with her always.


	4. Training, Traveling, and Turbulence

Chapter Four: Training, Traveling, and Turbulence

After Cole's arm healed, he and Danny spent all of their time training for the journey that they had ahead of them. Cole got strong enough to blast a tree in two with a single Force Palm and not even be the least bit tired. Danny and Cole had become two of the best friends that had ever been. It wasn't long before Cole evolved into Lucario. He was the happiest he'd ever been. He finally had a friend. After he evolved, Danny hugged him. It was a few seconds later that Danny realized that a Lucario has a metal spike on its chest. He opted to avoid hugging for a while. A simple handshake was sufficient for the pair. They spent the rest of their time trying to learn how to create an Aura Sphere. Cole, being a Lucario, should have been able to learn that move. Danny, being an Aura Guardian, should have been able to figure it out as well. However, neither of them could really understand how to get it to work. They did learn how to see the Aura of their surroundings, how to talk telepathically through the Aura, and how to use the Aura to increase their natural abilities. Danny could now jump a considerable distance straight up, but he didn't hold a candle to Cole. As a Lucario, Aura abilities came naturally. He had the job of explaining how it worked to Danny. Their abilities were comparable, but they had their own distinct strengths. Danny was much better at endurance running than Cole, but wasn't nearly as fast. Similarly, Cole was much better than Danny at pinpoint maneuvers, but wasn't able to put as much force behind a blow because of it. All in all, they were a perfectly matched fighting pair. Due to his sentient nature, Cole was able to fight without Danny's help. However, he still listened to commands because it seemed disrespectful not to. A trainer's pokemon should listen, even if he is the trainer's best friend. On the flipside, Danny thought it was disrespectful to treat pokemon as items and, therefore, would listen to any suggestions that Cole had.

Five days were left until they would start the journey and Danny decided that he needed to get some supplies for the trip. Particularly, a new set of clothes. Cole wanted to help him choose, but the store didn't allow pokemon inside unless they were in pokeballs. He reluctantly spent the day at Danny's house. Danny spent an entire day inside the town store, looking through the limited options available. When he found what he wanted, he just smiled. When he got home, he showed the clothes to Cole.

"Very nice." he said.

"Thanks." Danny replied, "I sure hope that Brock likes them, too."

"I'm sure he will." said Cole, "He's your friend." Danny smiled and put the clothes onto a hanger in his closet. They had four whole days left to wait. The tension was driving them both insane. They managed to keep it together, though.

On the day that the journey was supposed to begin, Brock emptied his safe. He put all of the contents into his backpack along with the other supplies he had carried when he traveled with Ash. He wore a brown jacket that had a green stripe in it over an orange t-shirt with a pair of green cargo pants and brown hiking boots. "Feels just like it used to." he said to himself, smiling. He heard a knock at the door. He put his backpack on the couch and answered the door. When he saw the person waiting on the other side, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. The visitor was wearing an unbuttoned blue jacket with short white sleeves over a black t-shirt with a pair of blue jeans, a pair of fingerless black gloves, and a pair of black and white tennis shoes. Danny looked at Brock with smile.

"Like the new clothes, Brock?" he asked. He noticed Brock's surprised expression. "Something wrong?" Brock regained his composure and answered:

"No. It's just that your clothes are almost exactly the same as the ones Ash wore when I first met him." Danny looked at him with disbelief.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah." replied Brock.

"That's scary." said Danny, "I just picked these clothes because I loved how they looked."

"Well, no matter." said Brock, "Do you have your pokeballs and pokedex?"

"Yep." replied Danny, "I've got my pokedex in my jacket and my pokeballs are clipped to my belt." He displayed the six spheres with pride and opened his jacket to reveal the pokedex. "Let's go!" he shouted as he turned to start running. Brock grabbed him by the collar.

"Not so fast, Danny." he said, "There's something missing in your outfit."

"What do you mean?" Danny asked him as he released his jacket. Brock took off his pack and rummaged through it for a second. He pulled out a red hat with a symbol resembling a pokeball on it and placed it on Danny's head.

"Now you're ready." Brock said with pride.

"Where'd you get this hat?" asked Danny as he repositioned the headgear, "I like it." Brock smiled at him.

"That was the hat that Ash left behind when he took off." Brock answered, "I thought you should have it." Danny was confused.

"Why?" he asked.

"Now," Brock said, "You look almost exactly like him." He smiled and began to walk out of town. Danny stood for a minute.

"_He's not telling me everything."_ he said telepathically.

"_I know. We'll have to ask him about it later."_ responded Cole. The two friends then ran to catch up with Brock.

Two days later, they arrived in Jubilife City. Cole was instantly uncomfortable.

"Do we have to be here?" he asked. Being a Lucario, he could now communicate with Brock.

"Yes." said Brock, "It's the only place to get supplies around here." Danny sensed Cole's apprehension at being in a city setting.

"I could keep you in your pokeball until we leave, if you like." he offered.

"Yeah." replied Cole, "I think I'd prefer that." Danny pulled out the first pokeball on his belt and recalled Cole in a flash of red light. After recovering from the dizziness, he returned the ball to his belt. He continued following Brock as he walked to through the city.

"How do you know where you're going?" he asked.

"I don't, really." Brock replied. "I've been here before, but it was so long ago that everything has been changed around. Right now, I'm looking for an information kiosk or a Pokemon Center." Danny understood his approach and started scanning around him for anything resembling a useful landmark. After about 20 minutes of wrong turns and conflicting directions, they found the Pokemon Center.

"Thank God." said Danny as he stepped inside, "That took way too long." He looked at Brock, expecting him to be proposing to Nurse Joy, but instead found him at the bulletin board on the opposite wall. He was slightly puzzled by Brock's change of attitude. "Didn't you used to fall in love with any woman you saw?" Brock smiled at him.

"I used to," he said, "but that turned out to be a hormone thing and it passed."

"Oh." replied Danny. He looked through some of the postings on the board. There were ads for everything you could imagine. He was particularly interested in the ad for the all-you-can-eat restaurant that was apparently just a few blocks away. He took one of the multiple flyers off the wall.

"Ha!" exclaimed Brock, "There it is! Two streets over, next to the Trainer Academy." Danny knew that he was speaking of the city's Pokemart. "Let's go, Danny." Brock left the Center and Danny followed him. Thanks to the directions in the Pokemon Center, they had no trouble finding the Pokemart. When they arrived, Brock moved with a specific purpose. Danny thought it would be best not to help. He'd probably just get in the way. Instead, he decided to browse through the various miscellaneous things on the shelves. He saw stones of every shape and size, bottles with incomprehensible labels, soda, and for some strange reason he found a set of dentures. He didn't dare touch them. Who knows where they'd been? He saw Brock moving to the register and decided to go with him. The man at the register looked to be around a decade older than Brock and he had light purple-ish blue hair. He scanned the order without even looking at Brock or Danny. He bagged the items and said:

"That'll be 3127 yen, sir." The cashier looked up at Brock and froze. "Twerp?" The name "Twerp" seemed to ignite a spark in Brock's head.

"James?" he asked. The cashier's face brightened considerably.

"I knew it was you!" he exclaimed, smiling. "It's so good to see a familiar face after all these years!" Brock was taken aback by this reaction, but smiled anyway.

"James, what have you been up to all this time?" he asked. James's face saddened a bit, but the smile remained.

"Well, after the main Twerp vanished, Jessie, Meowth and I kind of lost our reason for being in Team Rocket." he said, "We went our separate ways. I thought about going home at first, but then I remembered the fate that awaited me." He cringed.

"Right." replied Brock, "Jessibelle." James cringed again, then renewed his smile.

"I decided to come here." he continued, "I didn't think anyone would look for me in a place like this." Brock nodded.

"I never would have looked for you here." he admitted. James kept his smile.

"All these years, I thought I would see at least one person from the past." he said, "Alas, there was no one. Enough about that! Even if it wasn't on purpose, I need to thank you for stopping by! This one's on me!" He practically threw Brock's bag of items at him. Brock was once again surprised.

"James, I can't just take this." he said. James laughed.

"Please, take it!" he said.

"Won't you get in trouble?" asked Brock, concerned. James laughed again.

"Trouble?" he replied, "No. How could I get into trouble? I own the store!" He smiled yet again and finally noticed Danny standing next to Brock. His face was rendered blank. "You. You look just like-- like--"

"Ash." finished Brock. "I know, weird isn't it? I think it's mainly the clothes." Brock smiled. "This is Danny. He's a friend of mine who's just starting his pokemon journey." Danny waved.

"It's nice to meet you, James." he said. James didn't respond for a second, but eventually returned his greeting.

"It's nice to meet you, too." he said. His face lit up as though he just had an idea. "Wait there, I have something that I'd like to give you." He came out from behind the counter and walked across the store to a door that said "Employees Only" and went inside. After a few minutes, he came back with a small box. He walked back over to the counter and put it down. He smiled at Danny again and opened it. He reached inside and pulled out a necklace with a crystal on the end. He handed it to Danny, who took it with a "Thank you" while not knowing what it was.

"What is it?" he asked after a minute. James smiled again.

"It's a crystal I found when I was a little boy." he replied, "It was naturally flawless. I want you to have it, for luck." Danny put the necklace on and again thanked James as he and Brock left. "You just make sure to come and visit me again!" James called after them. Danny smiled and nodded as he walked out the door. James put the box under the counter and assumed his previous post behind the register.

Since the store visit was the only reason for their stop, the group continued out of the city and back into the wilderness. Danny let Cole out again.

"Ah." he sighed, "It's so good to be in the forest again!" Danny smiled at him. Cole noticed the crystal on Danny's neck. "What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, this?" replied Danny. "It's a crystal that an old friend of Brock's gave me. He ran the shop in town and was really happy to see Brock after all these years." Danny looked at Brock and saw that he was frowning. "What's up?" he asked.

"James," answered Brock, "was never my friend. He actually spent most of his time trying to steal our pokemon." Danny was shocked.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"Don't get me wrong." Brock said quickly, "He wasn't really all that bad of a guy; he just fell in with the wrong crowd. I guess, since he's been on his own, he got to let his true colors show." Danny had a philosophical moment.

"It's not who you were that matters," he said, "It's who you are now that counts." Brock and Cole looked at him curiously.

"That was deep." said Cole. Danny smiled.

"I have my moments." he said matter-of-factly.

"You're right." Brock commented, "It would be good of you to remember that." Danny was confused by this comment.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. Brock stopped walking and turned to Danny.

"All through your life" said Brock, "you're going to run into people who used to be this or that, and they'll try to use that as a qualification. It's a good thing if you can ignore what they were and focus on what they are now. You'll see that they are nothing like the person they used to be." Danny pondered this for a moment and answered:

"So, will the change be a good or a bad thing?" Brock chuckled softly.

"In James' case," he replied, "it was a good thing. He used to be a thief, now he's a kind-hearted store clerk. However, the opposite can also happen. Heroes can easily become villains and villains can easily become heroes, Danny. That's what you need to remember." Brock turned and resumed his walking.

_"What was that about?" _asked Cole. Danny frowned.

_"I don't know, but it's going to come back up again." _he responded, _"That was a pretty obvious hint that he's expecting to run into a few other old friends, or old enemies."_ They ended their telepathic conference and followed Brock. A few dozen yards behind them, a dark figure leaned against a tree. It was watching them travel down the path.

"Alright, Brock." it said, "I get the hint. Soon." The figure spun around and disappeared. Danny and Cole stopped and looked to their rear. There was nothing there. They looked at the Aura around the area. Nothing. Cole sensed Danny's frustration.

"See anything?" Cole asked.

"No, but I could've sworn..." Danny stopped.

"There was someone there." Cole finished. "I sensed him, too." Brock was a few yards ahead of them and stopped when he noticed that they were no longer there.

"Hey!" he shouted, "What's going on?" Cole and Danny ran to Brock.

"There was someone behind us." Cole explained. Brock looked upset.

"Hmm." he said, "We'll have to be careful. Let's go." Brock turned and continued on his interrupted course. Danny followed with Cole. They were uneasy, but still managed to maintain a positive outlook. They looked at the scenery and commented on how clean the air was when you left the city. It may have seemed boring, but Danny and Cole were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They stopped for dinner at about six that evening. Danny took particular joy in the fact that he could now talk with his mouth full, thanks to his telepathic communication with Cole. Cole really didn't understand the source of this amusement, but shared Danny's happiness nonetheless. They sparred after dinner, while Brock cleaned up the cooking supplies. Brock didn't mind doing this job; he had done it all of the time when he traveled with Ash. After he finished, he watched Danny fight with Cole. Cole had just swung a kick towards Danny's head. Danny deflected it with his arm as he changed his stance to prepare for a leap. Cole noticed the change and threw a punch to keep him from getting away. Danny threw himself to the ground and used the momentum to roll backwards onto his feet again. Cole was already coming at him and Danny lunged straight into the attack. This surprised Cole, who missed, and allowed Danny to grab him and throw him down. Danny returned to a defensive stance and waited for Cole to get up. He did and also assumed a defensive stance a few feet away. Brock clapped and they both looked at him.

"That was impressive." he said, smiling. "However, I couldn't help but notice that this would be much better training if you were battling another trainer." After returning to normal stances, Danny and Cole looked at each other and smiled.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Danny. Brock brought out his pack and pulled out a pokeball. Cole returned to Danny's side and watched Brock slowly move to the other side of the clearing. He threw the pokeball into the air.

"Go, Toxicroak!" he shouted. There was a flash of light as Brock's pokemon materialized out of the ball. Danny pulled out his pokedex. He flipped it open and listened to the data.

"Toxicroak- the toxic mouth pokemon

Poison/Fighting type

The toxin created in its poison sacs is pumped down to the knuckle claws through tubes in its arms. This toxin is so vile, that even a scratch could prove fatal."

"So that's a toxicroak." he stated. He looked at Cole. "Ready to rumble?" Cole just smiled and ran into the middle of the clearing.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, Danny." said Brock. Danny turned his hat backwards and replied:

"I'd be insulted if you did."

"Toxicroak! Poison Jab!" commanded Brock.

"_Cole, duck and roll to the right and use a force palm from behind."_ Danny said. Cole did just that. Toxicroak landed with a thud, and Cole took up an offensive stance behind it. Brock was surprised by Cole's reflexes and the fluidity of his movements. He first thought that Cole was moving without waiting for orders, but then realized that Danny was focused intently on the battle and came to the conclusion that Danny was giving commands telepathically so that Brock couldn't counter based on the verbal commands.

"Very good, Danny." complimented Brock. "Using telepathic commands so that I can't tell what you're about to do. Smart, but not enough. Toxicroak! Berserker!" Danny was confused by this command. There was no move called "Berserker." He realized too late what was going on. Toxicroak had been knocked to the ground by Cole, but had taken little damage. It jumped up and began throwing rapid Poison Jabs at Cole. These Jabs were alternated with Brick Break. Cole was able to dodge at first, but was eventually caught by one of the attacks. This led to a flurry of hits by Brock's Toxicroak. Cole was in deep trouble. Poison attacks don't do anything to steel types, but Brick Break was a fighting type move. Bad news to any steel type pokemon. This was also bad for Danny because his telepathic connection with Cole resulted in him having an unpleasant pain at every impact point.

"_Cole, get out of there!"_ shouted Danny as winced. Cole fell to the ground and tried to distance himself from the attacker after he stood. He had taken a lot of damage from the Brick Breaks and was slowing down because of it. Toxicroak was closing in when Danny had an idea. "_Cole, use Extremespeed to get behind him. When you get there, try your best to form an Aura Sphere and then use Extremespeed again to slam it against Toxicroak as hard as you can manage."_ As Toxicroak was about to throw another Brick Break, Cole vanished. Toxicroak was in the middle of the swing when Cole appeared behind him, forming an Aura Sphere as best he could.

"Toxicroak! Look out!" shouted Brock, but it was too late. Cole vanished again and slammed into Toxicroak with all the force he could, shoving the deformed Aura Sphere directly into the pokemon. Toxicroak fell to the ground, followed by Cole. He had put so much into the attack, he couldn't stop. Cole rebounded off of the fallen Toxicroak, jumped away, and assumed a fighting stance. Toxicroak struggled to stand, but did make it back up. "You okay, Toxicroak?" asked Brock. Toxicroak responded by scraping its claws together and growling at Cole. Brock smiled. "Toxicroak, Revenge!" he commanded. Toxicroak began to move, but suddenly fell to the ground. Brock's smile vanished like Cole had. Toxicroak had fainted. Cole saw that his opponent had fallen and turned to Danny.

"Are we done?" he asked Danny. Danny shrugged.

"I guess so." he replied. Cole smiled and collapsed. Danny and Brock looked at each other from across the battlefield. "That was anticlimactic." said Danny as he turned his hat back around.

"Yeah." responded Brock, "It really was." They ran over to their pokemon. Brock called Toxicroak back and walked over to his bag of supplies. Danny had promised Cole that he would only use his pokeball if it was absolutely necessary, so he dragged him instead. This was something easier said than done. The average Lucario weighed around 120 pounds. Danny weighed less than 90.

"You owe me for this." he grumbled as he carried Cole over to Brock. He had already brought out Toxicroak and was in the process of healing it. Brock handed Danny a super potion and showed him how to use it. "So," started Danny, "you created a sequence of attacks for your Toxicroak to use and gave it a name to simplify it for the pokemon and confuse your opponent at the same time." Brock was thoroughly impressed and showed this by smiling.

"Yes, exactly." he said, "That was impressive deductive skill, Danny." Danny smiled as he worked on healing his fallen friend. "The only downside is that it only works once. Your telepathy works every time."

"It has its downside as well." Danny replied as his smile became less noticeable. Brock was curious.

"What do you mean, Danny?" he asked. Danny continued working with the super potion.

"How do I know where Cole is injured?" he asked rhetorically, "I know where he's injured because I can feel those injuries. Every single time that Toxicroak came in contact with Cole, I felt the pain from the attack. It was to a much lesser degree than Cole, mind you; but I still felt it." Brock's expression changed to shock.

"I had no idea that your connection was that strong." he stated, "Are there any other side effects that I should know about?" Danny thought for a moment while still healing Cole and answered:

"Nothing too bad other than us sharing feelings and such, but you already knew about that. We tend to enjoy activities that the other enjoys. The prime example of this is obviously my sudden liking of your pokemon food."

"Yeah." replied Brock, "That was kind of surprising." He gave a half-hearted smile and called Toxicroak back into its pokeball. Danny finished healing Cole and pulled a sleeping bag from his pack which he then moved Cole onto. "Good battle, by the way." said Brock. Danny turned to him. "You would have given Ash a run for his money." Danny felt an incredible surge of happiness. According to Brock's story, Ash was one of the best trainers that he had ever met. Being compared so closely to someone of that stature was a very exciting experience. He couldn't help but grin as he pulled out a sleeping bag for himself. Cole was exhausted, therefore Danny was tired. He put his hat and other things into his pack and went to sleep. Brock pulled out his sleeping bag, but remained awake outside of it. He watched the fire next to them. He sighed and looked at Danny. "He needs to get here before you figure it out for yourself." he said to the sleeping Guardian. He watched the fire for another minute before he went to sleep.

"..._my...watch...can't let him...Brock..._"

"..._alright,...you...needs to know..._"

"_...will...in time...tell...thank you..._"

"_...I could...Ash..._"

Danny woke up, but kept his eyes closed. He focused as much as he could on the dream he just had. He tried to grasp the threads that held it together, but they were falling apart before he could get them. He remembered names. _Ash and Brock. They were talking about something. No, someone._ _The dream felt too real to be just a dream._ _Maybe it was a memory. How would I remember Ash, though? Maybe it's not your memory. Brock's memory, perhaps? I should ask him about it. What's that sound?_ He opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. He wasn't in the clearing anymore. He was on a path through the forest. The weirdest thing, however, was the fact that the ground was moving underneath him. He tilted his head downward and saw a pair of black legs and a blue tail.

"Cole, why are you carrying me?" he asked. Cole stopped walking and let Danny get off of his shoulder. He grinned as he looked at Danny.

"I owe you, remember?" he said. Danny stared for a minute and then chuckled as started following Brock, who was in the lead.

"I guess that's true." said Danny, "Now we're even." Cole chuckled and followed after him. They walked for an hour before they stopped to rest. Brock sat and stretched out his legs and Cole was doing some sort of exercise. Danny got out his hat and put it on. He also took out the rest of his gear that he placed in the pack last night. He put all of his items in their designated spots and put the pack on the ground next to him. He twisted the crystal he had received in his hand and looked at it. It really was flawless. There were no cracks or anything. Danny particularly liked the color, a deep blue. He examined it some more and noticed a small symbol etched into it at the point where it connected to the necklace. He turned it to get a better look. The symbol was very small, but Danny was just barely able to tell what it was. It was a small shield.

"Danny, we're leaving." said Brock. Danny snapped back into reality and stood up. He put the necklace on and tucked it behind his shirt. He walked after Brock and Cole. He needed to ask Brock about the memory, but he didn't know how to handle that situation. Cole could sense that Danny was nervous, but he could also sense that he wanted him to stay out of the situation. It took a few more hours of preparation, but Danny finally worked up the nerve to ask about the dream.

"Brock, I need to ask you something." he said.

"What do you need?" asked Brock.

"I had a dream last night. It brought up a question." said Danny. Brock stopped walking and turned towards him. He was waiting for the question. "Did... did Ash ask you to look after someone?" Danny managed to ask. Brock looked at him with a frown on his face and stood in silence. He sighed.

"Danny, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to be the one to tell you this--"

*BLAM* Brock's face went blank. He looked down at his chest. A red liquid was pouring from an open wound.

*BLAM* Another wound. He collapsed.


	5. Heroes and Villains

Chapter Five: Heroes and Villains

Danny and Cole held Brock as he died. Brock tried to speak, but only succeeded in creating sickening gurgling sounds. Danny cried as he watched his friend and mentor died in front of him. Cole hadn't known Brock for very long, but was still very upset with the situation and was crying as well. Brock continued to attempt speech. Danny tried to understand him, but he couldn't use his powers because of how distraught he was. After a few more seconds, Brock managed to say one word:

"...pokeball..." With that, he stopped breathing and his body went completely limp. Danny continued crying. Cole looked around them and noticed that they were nowhere near alone. They were surrounded by people in uniforms. They wore black shirts and pants with white boots. All of them had a big, red "R" on their chests. In the front, there was a single younger man with red hair wearing an orange business suit and holding a gun. He was smiling at the three travelers. Cole glared at him. Danny looked up and glared as well. His eyes were slightly more pink than usual.

"Now, now." said the man, "Looking angry isn't going to solve anything. My name is Giovanni, leader of Team Rocket. I have been looking for you." Danny gently placed Brock's head on the ground. He stood and all of the nearby soldiers pulled out weapons of their own. He looked them over and saw that he had no chance of getting past them all.

"Why?" asked Danny. Giovanni laughed.

"Money, power, greed." replied Giovanni, "The usual reasons. I want to harness the power of the Aura and I need an Aura Guardian in order to do that. The only other living Guardian went missing 25 years ago, and we didn't find out about you until recently. We were tracking you by the power signature you gave off." Danny was livid and his eyes continued to redden.

"That's not what I asked." he spat, "I asked why you killed my friend." Giovanni laughed again.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied, "He would have given his life to stop me, so I decided to shorten the process by killing him before we took you." Cole was worried. He couldn't feel Danny's feelings anymore. He was so angry. He'd never been like this before. _Wait!_ thought Cole, _Anger? The virus!!_ Cole tried to use telepathy to contact him, but couldn't get in. Danny's rage completely blocked out everything else. Giovanni had noticed a distinct change in Danny as well and had raised his gun a little higher. _He killed Brock for no reason. _thought Danny, _He killed Brock. I can't kill another person. He killed Brock. I can't retaliate. He killed Brock! I mustn't... HE KILLED BROCK!!!!!_ Danny lunged straight for Giovanni. Giovanni was truthfully startled by this and fired at him. Danny waited for the pain, but it never came. He continued on his rampage. He ran at Giovanni and grabbed him by the neck. He held him for a second and threw him to the ground with greater force than any human should have been able to achieve. Giovanni's body had made a crater on impact. The soldiers around him started to fire. Danny was hit by a cloud of tranquilizer darts and fell to the ground. Cole ran at and disabled a few of the soldiers before he, too, was hit with a mass of darts. He fell to the ground. Danny could still look around. Giovanni was being carried away and there was a group of soldiers coming towards Cole and him with restraints. The soldiers began to tie them up when Danny heard a familiar voice.

"Cacturne, Pin Missile! Carnivine, Bullet Seed!" shouted James. The ground around the soldiers exploded and they were thrown backwards by the force. The group that had been restraining Danny and Cole ran to ward off the attacker. "Needle Arm, Cacturne! Bullet Seed, Carnivine!" yelled James. The goons were disabled before they could even act. James ran over to the fallen trio. He examined them briefly and gave out orders to his pokemon: "Carnivine, take Danny. Cacturne, grab the Lucario and Brock." Danny felt the pokemon pick him up as he fell asleep.

"_...my son. Please watch... I can't let him end up... Please, Brock..._"

"_Alright, Ash... but you have to tell... he needs to know who..._"

"_...will tell him... in time... you can't tell him... thank you..._"

"_...least I could... Ash..._"

"..._Daniel..._"

Danny sat upright violently, breathing hard. He scanned his environment. He was in a white room with two beds. He was in one of the beds and the other harbored Cole. He stood and walked over to his friend. Cole was sleeping soundly. Danny decided that it was best to leave him. He noticed that he was wearing only his pants and saw the rest of his items in the chair beside his bed. He put on his clothes and ventured forth out of the room. He opened the door to see the inside of the Pokemart they had visited the day before. _BROCK!!!_ Danny remembered what had transpired. He ran out of the room and headlong into James.

"Where's Brock?" asked Danny. James looked at him with an expression of disappointment.

"You missed the funeral." he said, "You've been asleep for two days." Danny nearly fell over.

"Two days?" he asked. James looked at him sadly and kneeled down to eye level. Danny expected him to say something, but instead he received a hug.

"I'm sorry, Danny." said James as he released the stunned trainer, "I can take you to the cemetery later if you like." Danny fought back the wave of tears he longed to let loose upon the world.

"Yes, later." he replied. James continued doing whatever it was he was doing and Danny walked back to the room where Cole was. When he went into the room, he saw that Cole was already awake. Cole knew that Danny was barely keeping his cool. Danny walked over to the bed and sat down. Cole looked at him and he looked back. He grabbed Cole and sobbed. Cole hugged him and cried as well. Danny ignored the spike digging into his shoulder. He needed a friend, and Cole was the only one he had left.

Later that day, James kept his promise to take Danny to Brock's grave. Cole came along, unwilling to leave Danny to his own devices. It was a sunny day and the birds were singing as the few clouds rolled by. The world itself was ignoring the events of three days ago and moving along as usual. They were forced to walk to the back of the cemetery to get to Brock's grave site. As expected, Danny dropped to his knees in front of Brock's headstone. He cried for nearly 30 minutes before he could even focus on the world around him. The headstone simply had his name and birth and death dates on it. Danny noticed that it had an area clear in the middle, but nothing was written there. He looked up at James from his kneeling position.

"Why is there nothing here?" he asked, a little more than slightly irritated. James looked at him and gave a weak smile.

"His family hadn't seen him in years, and they decided that you knew him best and therefore you should have the honor of choosing what goes on the headstone." he explained. Danny's previous look of irritation began moving between sadness and astonishment. After a few minutes, the expression of sadness finally won out and he began to sob again. This sadness became slowly combined with irrational anger.

"Are they serious!?" he shouted, "They expect me to be able to explain how important he was on this tiny space on a fricking rock!?!?" He grabbed the sides of his head and screamed as if the world around him were collapsing. Cole felt the virus' influence on Danny again and moved in to try and calm him down. He placed his arms on Danny's shoulders. This act was returned with a glare from piercing red eyes. Danny grabbed Cole's arms and threw him a few dozen yards down the path. He landed with a sickening thud and remained motionless. Danny's eyes immediately went back to normal and he gasped as he looked at his hands. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had just thrown his best and only friend across a cemetery. He leapt to his feet and, through some combination of running and crawling, went over to his fallen friend. Danny fell to his knees once more and buried his face in Cole's chest, sobbing. He wrapped his arms around his only friend.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he repeated as often as his crying would allow. Cole regained consciousness to find his best friend sobbing uncontrollably into his chest. Cole put his arms on Danny once more and he stopped crying long enough to shoot a look of extreme depression at him before returning to his previous cycle of crying and apologizing. This continued while James watched with a serious look on his face. Eventually, Danny calmed down and released Cole from his apologetic death-grip. Cole sat up and Danny hugged him again. Cole hugged him back and explained that he was virtually unharmed as well as happy that Danny was himself again. Danny wouldn't accept his forgiveness that quickly and demanded that Cole be mad with him. Cole refused and Danny began to sob again.

"I hate myself for this!" he shouted over his crying, "Why won't you be mad at me?" Cole bowed his head for a minute and sighed. He looked at Danny.

"You are my one and only friend on the entire planet." Cole answered, "There is no way that I could stay mad at you." Danny once again buried his face in Cole's chest and continued sobbing. Cole put his arms around his friend and held him. James was touched by this exchange and cried softly. After Danny had cried for quite some time, he and Cole walked back to the Mart with James following close behind. None of them saw the dark figure standing over the fresh grave of Brock Harrison. None of them even noticed when the figure dropped just like Danny had and began to cry over the burial ground. None of them knew what the figure spoke as he slowly stood.

"I'm sorry, Brock." the figure had said with difficulty. The figure couldn't bring himself to look in the direction of the retreating group. "You will be avenged, my friend." he said to the corpse of Danny's mentor. "They'll pay for this." The figure spun on his heel and swiftly vanished. None of them knew, and none of them would ever know.

Upon arriving at the Pokemart, Danny and Cole went back to the pseudo-bedroom they had been staying in and sat on their separate beds. James hung a "Closed" sign on the door and joined them in the room. Danny and Cole sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity before James' voice punched through the forced barrier of soundlessness.

"Did Giovanni tell you what he was after?" he asked. Danny and Cole looked at him and Danny decided to answer that question with another.

"How did you know what was going on?" he asked. James smiled sheepishly and explained himself.

"The necklace that is attached to the crystal is an emergency beacon." he said, "It sends out a distress signal when the crystal is activated." Danny stared at him, unsure of what he meant exactly.

"What do you mean about the crystal activating?" he asked.

"I'm sure that you noticed the symbol etched into the top of it." he said. Danny nodded. "I did, in fact, find that crystal when I was a small boy. It actually saved my life later that same day. You see, that crystal creates a shield of Aura around you when your life is put directly into danger." Danny's eyes widened. "I don't know exactly how it works, but I know that I owe my life to that little bit of shiny rock. After I found it, I placed it in my pocket and continued my playing. At some point, I wandered into a place I shouldn't have been and was almost crushed by a falling slab of concrete. If that crystal hadn't been in my pocket, I would have died." Danny's eyes continued their widening. "I kept it safe for all these years. The minute I saw you, I thought of the twerp from 25 years ago. I knew that if you were anything like him, you would be getting into trouble sooner rather than later. So, I gave it to you." Danny's eyes returned to their normal diameter. He looked at the ground for a moment, pondering the story. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but couldn't form words. This happened a few more times before he finally managed to say something.

"Thanks." said Danny, "I guess I owe you one." He smiled and James chuckled.

"Consider us even, Danny." he said. Danny cocked his head slightly and James chuckled again. "In saving you, I repaid a favor to an old friend. He saved me once, and said that I could pay him back by saving someone else." Danny smiled.

"I guess that means I have to save someone." He said. James smiled back.

"If you like." he said with a twinge of sarcasm. Their banter continued with Cole chiming in at random intervals. They tried their best to ignore what had happened at the cemetery, but it still weighed heavily on everyone's minds.

Elsewhere, in a hidden military-like compound that had no actual military connections, an older man wearing a black suit with an "R" on the front pocket walked along the corridor in the medical wing. He had dark hair with streaks of white starting to form. His was very fit for his age, and still struck fear into those around him. While technically still the official leader, he had let his son take over most of the major functions and most of the R&D, outside of his personal research projects. As he walked, he passed several rooms occupied by injured grunts and their pokemon. The sight of failure aggravated him to no end and his customary frown became accompanied by a look of extreme irritation. Despite his urge to verbally abuse all of the rooms' occupants, he continued to walk. He stopped at a door labeled "Restricted Access- Level 7 Security Clearance Required" and glanced at the thumbprint scanner that was residing where a doorknob usually would. He placed his thumb on the pad and it went through its programmed routine of scanning and processing. He took his thumb off the pad and waited. His patience was wearing thin as the display above the scanner finally showed "Giovanni, Sr." and the door opened to reveal the elevator behind it. He stepped into the elevator as the door closed automatically behind him. He looked over at the wall of options next to him. After a few seconds, he found the one he wanted and pressed the button. He made a mental note to have one of the techs increase the processing speed for the thumbprint scanner. The elevator began to lower. His look of irritation softened a bit as he rode in the elevator. If he looked too angry, no one would be brave enough to speak. The elevator arrived at its destination and Giovanni stepped out onto the highly polished floor. He opened the door in front of him and walked out into the hallway. He turned left and walked slowly, but purposefully, down the hall. He encountered the occasional scientist, who would immediately salute and step backwards. He arrived at the door he had been looking for. He opened it and casually walked inside. It was a large, white room with a wall of windows on the opposite side. All of the scientists were working and none of them noticed when he entered the room. While slightly annoyed by their ignorance, he was content in the knowledge that they were working hard on his latest project. Giovanni walked over to the Senior Supervisor and asked him how the work was progressing.

"Excellently, Sir. Project Juggernaut is coming along very well." he was obviously nervous with Giovanni being there, but he sounded confident nonetheless.

"How is the subject doing?" asked Giovanni as he accessed the subject's vitals on the computer in front of him.

"Surprisingly well, Sir." replied the Supervisor as he looked over his clipboard.

"Good." answered Giovanni "When will he be ready?" The supervisor looked over his clipboard once more.

"We expected him to be ready in a month, but with the amazing progress so far he should be ready by next week. However, he will need at least three days worth of training with the enhancements after that point." Giovanni strolled over to the wall of windows. He looked down into the lab and stared at the figure lying on the experimentation table. Even with the enhancements they had made so far, he could still make out the figure's flaming red hair. The man, if he could still be called that, was conscious and was looking up at Giovanni. Giovanni pressed the intercom button to his right.

"How do you feel, Junior?" he asked over the loudspeaker. The figure glared as he leaned up into a sitting position.

"I told you not to call me that!" he shouted. Giovanni glared back. The figure, although confident, was frightened by Giovanni's stare.

"I will call you Junior until you can prove to me that you are capable of running this organization!" shouted Giovanni. The figure in the room returned to his previous position of lying flat on the table. Giovanni released the intercom walked to the exit.

"You have two weeks." he said as he left, "Do not disappoint me." The supervisor cringed at the thought of what might happen if he ever did cause Giovanni to be in a bad mood. When he exited the elevator in the medical wing, Giovanni decided to go through with his desire to chew out the grunts. After he did, he had a sense of satisfaction and he went back to his office. He sat behind his large oak desk and felt the gentle nudging of his hand. He leaned over and picked up the small, red-brown pokemon and placed it in his lap. He stroked it and it went to sleep in his lap. It was no substitute for his Persian that had passed away four years ago, but it was a companion that he was unusually happy to keep. The Vulpix had been a gift from his son. He had sent it to him for his birthday. It was a lazy thing, but it was powerful. Giovanni smiled as he pet the fox-like pokemon in his lap. It was his Achilles heel. He wasn't nearly as nasty when he had the little ball of fur with him. The Vulpix cooed softly and Giovanni sighed happily. He was definitely getting too old for this job...


	6. Requests

Chapter Six: Requests

Danny was afraid. He felt morbid and unclean doing this sort of thing. Brock's parents had left his things with Danny, giving him the job of going through the items and deciding what to do with them. It had been four days before he could bring himself to do it. Cole and James were in the next room; Danny had requested that he be alone for this. He reached into the bag and pulled out a stack of journals. He looked at the covers and decided that he would read through them later and placed them on the bed next to him. He reached in again and pulled out a full tea set. He just stared. The mere thought that anyone, let alone Brock, would even have a tea set was a bit much for Danny and he couldn't help but laugh at the item. He put the set next to him on the bed and once again reached into the depths of Brock's pack. This time he pulled out a bag of the pokemon food that Brock had made for Cole. Danny snuck a piece out and put the rest of the bag next to him. He pulled out item after item, none of them particularly useless but none of them really all that important either. After a few minutes of playing with some weird compass-like thing, he found Brock's pokeball. He gasped as he realized that he would have no idea what was going on. He immediately released Brock's Toxicroak. In a flash of red, it appeared in front of him. He looked around and didn't see Brock anywhere.

"Where is my partner, human?" he demanded. Danny fought back tears.

"He was killed, Toxicroak." replied Danny. He began to cry softly, losing his battle against his emotions. Toxicroak wept, but didn't betray his obligation to remain as solid as possible. "Did Brock have any more pokemon with him, Toxicroak?" asked Danny as attempted to regain control over his urge to cry. Toxicroak didn't speak; he just shook his head as he sat in a chair across the room. "I have the job of going through his stuff." said Danny, "If there's anything you would like to keep, let me know." Toxicroak nodded, but didn't look at Danny. Danny continued to pull out items. To his surprise, he found a second pokeball. This one had a small lightning bolt on it. _I thought he didn't have any more pokemon. Wait._ He remembered Brock's last word. "Pokeball." he said aloud, but not quite loud enough to be heard. He opened the pokeball and looked inside. There was a small piece of paper in it. He took it out and looked at it. There was writing on one side:

Dear Danny,

If you are reading this, then I didn't make it. I wrote this before we left because I had expected complications along the way. I didn't expect to die, but better safe than sorry. This pokeball belongs to Ash's pikachu. Yes, Danny. "Belongs." Present tense. He was never released, so he technically still belongs to whoever has this pokeball. I need to ask you to something for me. I need you to find Ash. I wasn't entirely truthful in my storytelling, Danny. I've seen Ash a few times since his disappearance. He made it through the virus without losing his mind, but he was very wary of coming back after all of that time. He didn't think that anyone would forgive him. I forgave him, but it wasn't enough. I need you to find him. I need you to bring him back. Danny, I need you to save him from himself. He needs to come back.

-Brock

Danny sat in silence as he read the letter. He knew that Brock hadn't been entirely open about his past, but he also knew better than to pursue the subject. Danny had a new mission. He was going to save Brock's friend. He went through the rest of the pack and didn't find anything else of interest. He put the items back into it along with his own things and put the pack on his back. Ash's pokeball he put on his waist. He looked over to Toxicroak.

"Brock asked me to do him a favor, Toxicroak." he said. Toxicroak looked up at the mention of his former trainer. "I'm going after Ash." Toxicroak eyed him and smiled.

"I can't let you do something like that by yourself, now can I?" he said. Danny smiled and added Toxicroak's pokeball to the ones on his waist. He left and Toxicroak followed him out. Cole was happy to see that Danny was done with his task, but was confused as to why he had Brock's pack. Danny explained his intentions and Cole agreed. Cole shook hands with Toxicroak, taking care to avoid the toxic spikes. James was sad to hear that they were leaving, but gave them a few things for the trip anyway. When all of the preparations had been made, the trio left. Once they were in the woods around the city, they debated as to where they were going to travel. Toxicroak insisted that they go to the place where Ash had been seen last. Cole and Danny were both opposed to this idea, as it would mean going back to Danny's hometown and that would mean that Danny's foster parents would force him to stay there. Toxicroak admitted that would be a hindrance. They debated for a while and eventually settled on going to Mt. Coronet as originally planned. That way, they could stop the virus that had awakened in Danny first and then they could focus on finding Ash without having to worry about Danny going homicidal. Danny cringed slightly at the comment, but neither of the others seemed to notice.

"Well, let's get going." said Danny. He began walking and Cole followed. Toxicroak seemed to be waiting for something. Danny saw that he wasn't walking and stopped. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Aren't you going to put me in my pokeball?" Toxicroak questioned. Danny was a little confused.

"Do you want to be in your pokeball?" he asked. Toxicroak stared for a moment before he answered.

"I guess I don't really want to..." he said, "I just assumed that you would put me into it for the trip." Danny smiled.

"Only if you want me to." he said. Toxicroak smiled and started walking with them. As they walked, Danny took out one of Brock's many journals and began to read. In theory, reading is a rather simple concept. Brock's writing made the task just a bit harder than it should have been. There were side notes, scribbles in the margin, diagrams, and a number of other things that all needed to be read in order to understand the purpose of the page. Danny got the hang of it eventually, but still struggled through some of the more edited pages. Cole had occupied himself with trying to form an Aura Sphere as he walked. He managed to get a basic, albeit deformed, ball of weak energy in his palm every once in a while. It would last for a minute or so before it would fizzle out with a puff of smoke. Toxicroak punched the ground every few seconds, creating patches of dead grass in a trail behind him. To the passerby, it would seem that they were bored out of their skulls. In actuality, they were all very happy with the seemingly random things they were doing.

Meanwhile, back in the hidden Rocket Base, Giovanni was watching the progress of Project Juggernaut on the large viewscreen in his office. The display indicated that they were even farther ahead of schedule and would be ready to release the test subject in five days. Giovanni smiled at this information and turned off the screen. His Vulpix was sleeping in his lap once again. He stoked it lovingly and sighed. The office was dark, as always, but Giovanni knew that something was off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it until he heard a voice behind him.

"Like the Vulpix, I take it?" said the figure behind him. Giovanni didn't bother to move. He just smiled again.

"You again?" he said. The figure chuckled. "I thought you were dead." The figure stopped chuckling and seemed to stare into Giovanni's soul through the chair that he was sitting in.

"You, of all people, should know better than to assume someone's death, Giovanni." the figure said with a hint of sarcasm. Giovanni laughed and pet the Vulpix in his lap.

"I suppose I should." he replied. The figure glanced at the now blank viewscreen.

"How could you put your 'son' through that program?" he asked. Giovanni's smile instantly vanished. His eye twitched slightly.

"Why are you here?" he asked sternly. The figure walked over to Giovanni's chair and spun it around so he could look directly at him. Giovanni, although aggravated by being forced to spin in his own chair, didn't react to the movement. The figure looked directly into his eyes.

"I'm here to tell you that the one that your 'son' was after is currently on his way to Coronet. You do remember what's in that mountain, right?" the figure stated. Giovanni simply nodded. "I will be joining the kid soon to help him. I don't care what you do with this information, but I need to ask you to do one thing." Giovanni was surprised, but you wouldn't know it by looking at him. He continued staring into the eyes of the intruder.

"What's your request?" he said flatly.

"Do what you think is right." replied the figure. With that, he swiftly turned around and vanished. Giovanni sat in silence for a long while. After what could only be described as the longest one-man staring contest ever, he turned his chair back towards his desk and then proceeded to wake the sleeping Vulpix. The Vulpix was irritated by its unwanted awakening and shot a few weak embers onto Giovanni's suit. They went out almost immediately, but left tiny singe marks. Had this been any other pokemon, Giovanni would have terminated it. Instead, he smiled and talked softly to the little fox-like animal.

"How would you like a trip, Delilah?" he asked. The Vulpix jumped at the chance to leave the complex.

"Vul!" it cried happily. Giovanni smiled.

"I thought you might." he said as he stood and the fox jumped to the floor. He was still for a second as he looked at the place where the intruder had vanished. "Thanks." he said quietly as he began to walk away with the Vulpix at his heels. Outside the complex, the figure leaned against a tree while he ate an apple.

"You're welcome." he said, "Take good care of her." He finished the apple and dropped the core. He disappeared before it hit the ground. Across the region, Danny could have sworn that he heard someone speaking. However, when he couldn't hear them anymore, he shrugged it off and continued walking.


	7. One of Those Days

Author's Note:  
Sorry about the delay. I just got a job and it has been interfering with my writing schedule. Anyway, I hope you enjoy chapter seven!

PS- Feel free to comment and ask me questions. It makes me feel special. :)

Chapter Seven: "One of Those Days"

Danny flopped on the ground and groaned. An entire day of walking can do some pretty nasty things to you. Cole followed suit. Toxicroak would have also followed suit, but he was in Pewter City at this time. Brock's parents forgot to tell Danny that they wanted to have Brock's pokemon back at the gym. James told Danny about it on the videophone in the Pokemon Center of the small town they reached about three hours after leaving. Danny was surprised, but reluctantly sent Toxicroak to Pewter. He and Cole had been walking by themselves for the remainder of the day. Danny moaned as he lifted his head up to stare at his feet. He could swear that he heard them crying in pain. Cole was also tired, but not really in pain. He was just exhausted. It may seem as though they are kind of wimpy for being so tired after only a day of walking, but 'day' is meant to be taken as a literal 24-hour time span in this case. Anyone would be tired after that. Danny's mind screamed for sleep, but he knew that they had to keep going for a little while longer. Before they left, James had warned them that Team Rocket wouldn't be deterred by a single defeat and Danny and Cole probably had their own satellite at this point. However, if they were missing for two days straight, the satellite would be moved to a target of greater importance. It would be nearly impossible to track them while they were moving, but they would be easy to spot if they stopped. They needed to keep going until they could find a cave or a house that would block out their body heat. Unfortunately, there were very few natural formations that could be used for shelter in this area and they were traveling far away from human developmental areas. These facts resulted in Danny and Cole walking nonstop because they couldn't find a place to rest that wouldn't be visible to Team Rocket.

Danny groaned again as he forced himself onto his feet. He wavered a bit, but then continued walking. Cole dragged himself along behind him. They may have been able to use the Aura to enhance their abilities, but everything has a limit. Danny felt that limit drawing closer. He wouldn't be able to make it much farther than he was now. It may have been the middle of the day, but everything seemed to be growing darker for Danny. The trees began to blend together into one big mess of green and brown. He pulled a canteen out of his pack and took a few gulps before handing it to Cole. He could tell that one of them was thirsty, but he was so confused that he couldn't tell which one. Cole took a few gulps as well and handed it back. Danny put the canteen back into his pack. His vision was slightly clearer, but still rather blurry. He continued walking and realized that he was no longer moving. There was still green and brown in his vision, but his face hurt for some reason. He could also smell dirt. It took him a minute to realize that he was flat on the ground. He grumbled and stood up again, only to fall onto his back. The landing was painful because of the backpack he was wearing. He rolled onto his side. He tried to move his limbs, but nothing happened. This really confused him because he was still moving despite his lack of motor functions. He felt pressure on his arm and looked at it. A pair of black paws had a hold of his arm. He attempted speech, but had roughly the same result as he did with movement. He made a small gurgling sound and gave up on his attempts. Cole gave a weak smile as he sensed Danny's frustration with his inability to move. Danny attempted a smile but got some sort of odd twitching motion instead. Once again, he gave up on the attempt and surrendered to Cole dragging him along. After a few seconds, he lost consciousness.

"_This is my son. I need you to watch over him for me. I can't let him end up being destroyed by the virus. Please, Brock. I'm begging you."_

_"Alright, Ash. I'll do it. But you have to tell him everything when he's old enough. He needs to know who you are and who he is."_

_"I'll tell him in time. I understand why you won't tell him. Thank you, Brock."_

_"It's the least I could do, Ash."_

_"Goodbye, Daniel."_

Danny sat up and hit his head against something. He immediately went back to lying down as he grabbed his throbbing head. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in a cave just barely high enough to accommodate a sitting position. It was wide enough to hold at least ten adults. Cole was lying next to him and there was sunlight coming in through the exit a few feet away. It was enough to illuminate the immediate area, but most of the cave was still dark. He noticed his hat was missing and frantically looked for it. He found it on the opposite side of the cave, next to his pack. He crawled over and put it on. Cole was sleeping soundly and didn't appear to be injured, so Danny decided to get a better look at his surroundings. He crawled over to the cave's exit and looked out. They were still in the forest. The cave's entrance was covered by shrubs, which would make it hard for anyone who didn't already know it was there to find it. He went back over to his sleeping comrade and looked him over once more. From what he saw, he deduced that Cole had dragged him into this cave before he collapsed.

"Why did you leave us?" growled a voice from the shadows. Danny spun around and looked across the cave. "Why did you abandon me, Ash?" growled the voice again. Danny knew that this wasn't going to end well.

"Who's there?" he said to the darkness. He saw a few sparks of electricity and the faint outline of a mouse-like figure. "What do you want?" said Danny, scared at this point. The sparks intensified, revealing a severely angered Pikachu.

"WHY DID YOU LEAVE!?!?" shouted the Pikachu as it charged at Danny. The next few seconds happened in slow motion for Danny. He saw the Pikachu, covered in electricity, running at him. He knew he had to dodge it, but he couldn't outrun a pokemon. He put his hands out in front of him and focused all of the Aura power he could into them, trying to form a shield of sorts. The Pikachu continued coming straight at him. Instead of a barrier, a ball of energy formed in Danny's hands and he released it unwillingly. The Pikachu couldn't stop and ran headlong into the blast. It was thrown to the opposite side of the cave, where it hit the wall and fell to the ground unconscious. Danny was horrified with what he had done. He moved as fast as he could over to the fallen electric mouse. It was bleeding from its head and was barely breathing. Danny scooped it up and semi-hobbled over to his pack. He pulled out a super potion and a bandage. He stopped the bleeding and began working with the super potion.

"Please don't die, little guy." he said softly, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I can't witness another death. Please don't die." Danny begged whatever force was governing the earth to save the little pokemon that had attacked him. He cradled it in his arms and begged it not to die. A few minutes later, it regained consciousness. It looked up at Danny and glared. Danny was startled by this reaction and his face showed it.

"You think that after what you did, I'd be happy to see you?!" the Pikachu said as forcefully as he could. Danny looked at him with his yellow eyes. The Pikachu noticed that something was off with "Ash" and looked more closely at him. He saw that this Ash look-a-like had white hair instead of black and his face was a bit different. Danny could feel the pokemon's confusion.

"My name's not Ash." he said flatly, "It's Danny." The Pikachu went wide-eyed. It grabbed Danny's jacket.

"I'm sorry." he said quickly, "I thought you were him. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry." Danny smiled and the Pikachu was even more confused than before.

"I'm the one who should apologize, little guy." he said, tearfully, "I nearly killed you with that blast." A few tears fell from his eyes and landed on his shirt. The Pikachu saw this.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, truthfully concerned for the stranger. Danny knew that his query was sincere and decided to explain himself.

"One of my only two friends in the world died a week ago." he replied as he cried harder, "I can't go through that again. I can't watch someone die again." He sobbed even harder as he held the mouse pokemon. It was the Pikachu's turn to be surprised. He didn't really know what to do, but he knew that he had to calm the human down somehow. He climbed up onto his shoulder and hugged his head. Danny, although not expecting this, accepted it and calmed down a bit. There was something strangely comforting in the pokemon's touch. It felt as if the Pikachu was supposed to be on his shoulder. The Pikachu had a feeling similar to Danny's but kind of the opposite experience. He felt like the human's shoulder was where he was meant to be. He knew that it was probably because that's where he was when he traveled with Ash, but it was still a curious feeling. After a while, Danny calmed down and sat with his back against the wall. The Pikachu jumped down and sat next to him. They sat in silence for a while before Danny spoke.

"So," he said, turning his head to look at the pokemon, "You're Ash's Pikachu, then?" The Pikachu looked at him and nodded. "I take it you have no idea where he is?" he asked, rhetorically.

"No." stated Pikachu. Danny sighed.

"Thought not." he said as he looked at the floor, "That would be way too easy." Pikachu shot him a look of confusion. "Oh, I'm looking for him." Danny explained, sensing the emotion.

"Why?" asked Pikachu, curious as to why another human would be looking for his former partner and friend. Danny fought back tears.

"It was my friend's last request." he said, "He wanted me to find Ash and bring him out of hiding." He glanced at Cole, who was still sleeping, and then returned his gaze to the floor in front of him. Pikachu had a sudden realization.

"Wait a minute." he said, "How can you even understand me?" Danny chuckled.

"I can use Aura to a limited extent." he explained, "While we're explaining things, why did you think that I was Ash?" Pikachu blushed in embarrassment, but it was completely unnoticeable due to his red cheeks.

"Oh..." he stalled, "You, uh... You looked like him in the dark and you smelled a little like him." Danny was thoroughly unamused, but couldn't maintain that anger and his frown turned to a weak smile.

"Oh, well." he shrugged off the comment, "I can't be mad with you. I almost killed you. I'm just happy that you're still alive." Pikachu was again surprised by this human's understanding and friendliness. Danny's smile faded as he realized what he had to tell this pokemon. "By the way, Pikachu..." he started. Pikachu looked at him and matched his frown, realizing that the human was going to say something that he wasn't going to like. "My friend, the one who died..." he stopped as he forced himself not to cry. "His name was Brock Harrison." Pikachu was silent. He just looked at the human without so much as a twitch. You could have heard a pin drop.

"No..." said Pikachu, "He couldn't have... He... He..." his voice trailed off as he repeated that same syllable a few more times before he broke down completely. Danny picked him up and held him to his chest. Pikachu sobbed and held onto his jacket as if his life depended on having physical contact with the fabric. This continued for a while, but Pikachu eventually calmed down. He still held onto Danny's jacket, though. Danny stroked him and felt him relax slightly. He felt incredibly guilty about having to tell Pikachu about Brock.

"I'm so sorry, Pikachu." he said, "You needed to know, but I'm sorry I had to tell you." Pikachu was still crying softly, but found enough strength to respond.

"Don't be sorry." he said quickly as he wiped his eyes, "I would have found out sooner or later." Danny wiped the tears from his own eyes and looked down at Pikachu. The pokemon had his face buried in his chest. Danny reached down to his belt and pulled off Pikachu's pokeball. He held it next to him.

"This is yours, Pikachu." he said. Pikachu looked over at his hand and gasped.

"Where did you get that?" he asked. Danny forced a smile, hiding a flood of tears he refused to let go.

"Brock had it." he explained, "I had to go through his things and--" he stopped as the sobbing threatened to start. "And decide what to do with everything." he finished. Pikachu looked at Danny's face and recognized that he was just as upset as himself. "I figure that what happens to this is your decision." Danny said as he continued forcing his smile. Pikachu released Danny's jacket and took the pokeball. He jumped down to the floor and placed the ball back on Danny's belt. He smiled.

"If you're going after Ash," he said in a triumphant manner, "then I'm going with you." Danny's smile became genuine and Pikachu smiled back.

"I promise you, Pikachu." said Danny, "When we find Ash, you get to hit him first." Pikachu laughed and Danny returned the expression of happiness. Cole, having been conscious this whole time, smiled. He slowly sat up and looked over at Danny and the newly befriended Pikachu.

"Hello, Pikachu." he said, "My name's Cole." Pikachu smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you." he replied. Danny looked at Cole.

"I take it you already know what's going on." he said to the Lucario. Cole just smiled at him. "That's the creepy thing about telepathy, you can never have a private conversation." said Danny. Cole laughed at this comment.

"Actually, I've been awake this whole time." he said. He promptly ran out of the cave. Danny grabbed his pack and ran after him, with Pikachu on his shoulder.

"You are SO getting it!!" he shouted as his best friend ran ahead of him. The trio was happy, and there was no possible way to ruin that for them right now. They all knew that the sudden bond was odd, but they also knew that it just felt right.

Danny stopped running and listened to the angriest growl he had ever heard. He looked at his stomach and the growl repeated itself. Pikachu, on his shoulder, laughed. Cole, who was a few paces ahead, also laughed but stopped when his own stomach returned the growl. This caused Pikachu to laugh even harder, but then his stomach joined the other two in the growling contest. All three of the travelers began to laugh. Danny kneeled down and pulled off his pack, dislodging Pikachu. Pikachu landed expertly on the ground next to Danny. Danny pulled out one of Brock's journals and their cooking supplies. He handed a bag of pokemon food to Cole, who smiled as he took it. Pikachu questioned why Cole got the food and Danny explained that Brock had made that food specially for Cole before they left and that Danny himself was going to try his hand at Brock's recipe. Pikachu was now very nervous. Danny opened the journal to the page about Pikachu's favorite recipe and began to cook. Pikachu was impressed with the result and Danny was pleased when Pikachu told him this. He had made extra and put it into a bag for later. Danny actually didn't end up eating until both Cole and Pikachu were finished. The two pokemon spent that time, during which Danny was eating, discussing what they had been through so far. Pikachu was grateful to hear the story about how Brock died, though he was crying afterwards.

"I needed to hear that." he said, "Thank you, Cole."

"Please, don't thank me for that." Cole replied and changed the subject. "So what have you been doing for 25 years?" Pikachu looked at him with a strange look.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Cole returned the look and Danny stopped eating.

"It's been 25 years since Ash left." Danny explained. Pikachu spun around and his expression became a mix between shock and disbelief.

"That's impossible." he said, "Ash only left a year ago." Danny dropped his food and looked at Cole. Cole looked back and they shared a joint confusion.

"It just had to be one of those days." Danny said, unamused.

Meanwhile, Giovanni sat on the command bridge of his Sky Fortress. It was a massive aircraft that housed enough firepower and troops to win a moderately sized war on its own. It was amazing that it could even get off the ground. It didn't look aerodynamic in any way. Giovanni had it constructed after the Legendary Birds Incident. He wanted to have a way out of any situation, and this craft gave him that. His favorite feature was that it had an exact duplicate of his office inside. That was the command bridge. He sat in his office chair and gave all of the instructions through the video screens on the ship. It was like a portable Team Rocket headquarters. He was impressed with the ship and was uncharacteristically cheerful. Delilah the Vulpix didn't complain about it because Giovanni's good mood resulted in more attention for her. Although he was often mean, Delilah loved her Master Giovanni. She would follow him to the end. Giovanni knew this, but also knew that he would never willingly put her into any situation that she may not live through. He sat in his chair, stroking the little fox pokemon while she lovingly nuzzled him. The phone on his desk rang and he was forced to stop interacting with Delilah.

"What is it?" he said into the receiver. He nodded as the person on the other end explained the reason for the call. "Good work. Keep me informed." he said. He placed the phone back onto the base and returned to stroking the pokemon, who had obediently sat on his lap while he was on the phone. He wanted to evolve her into a Ninetales, but every time he mentioned it she would get annoyed and turn up her nose at the idea. Giovanni didn't need to evolve her, but he had this instinctive desire for power. Evolving Delilah would greatly increase her already massive power and Giovanni really wanted that. However, for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to do it against the Vulpix's wishes. Delilah didn't want to evolve. She was happy just the way she was. Feeling defeated by the memories, Giovanni sighed. He was most definitely getting far too old for this job. He couldn't even force evolution upon a pokemon anymore. At least, not on this one.

He heard a knock at the door and glared at the entrance to his office. How dare it interrupt his internal monologue. "Enter." he said with an implication of anger. A grunt slowly entered the room and walked over to his desk. The grunt placed a folder on Giovanni's desk and walked back to the exit. He closed the door behind him, but Giovanni still heard him begin to sprint. Giovanni looked at the folder on his desk and picked it up. He chuckled to himself as he read the report. "That simpleton thought that slightly less energy efficiency than we had expected was going to anger me?" he said to himself. Delilah, although not entirely certain what the statement meant, enjoyed seeing her master amused and gave a "Vulpix!" of agreement. Giovanni stroked the Vulpix in response. Suddenly, the room shuddered and listed to the left. Momentarily forgetting that he was in an aircraft, Giovanni was very curious as to how his office was managing to tilt in the ground but soon remembered that he was in the air. Emergency alarms began to squeal as he ran with Delilah to the office door.

"Breach of security in the Genetic Research Division! Reinforcements to Deck 13!" shouted a voice on the loudspeaker. Giovanni went pale at the mention of the genetics division and ran towards the nearest elevator. Delilah followed behind him, ready to kill the thing that was upsetting her master. Giovanni punched the button for the Deck 13 and the elevator began to move. He looked down at the little fox creature. Delilah looked up and then spat a few embers on the floor, signifying that she was ready to fight. Giovanni smiled, but knew that there was no way she would be able to handle this. The only genetics project that Giovanni had brought along was Project Juggernaut. It was called "Juggernaut" for a reason. He had designed it to be unstoppable. He called Delilah into her pokeball.

"It just had to be one of those days." he muttered to himself as the elevator descended.


	8. Legendary Intervention

Author's Note-  
Sorry about the long update time. I was busy with this whole "senior year of high school" thing, which led directly into the "college is right around the corner and you have to jump through several thousand hoops" thing. This was then compounded by the fact that I have a job and many family obligations to which I must attend. Anywho, here's chapter 8. As a bonus, I also managed to get chapter 9 done, but I have to do some last minute editing before you see that.

Also, a special thanks to **thehighroller1** for your praise of my writing. I honestly don't think I'm that good. :)

**Chapter Eight: Legendary Intervention**

Danny stared at Pikachu and Pikachu stared back. Danny was trying to think of the best way to handle the situation. Pikachu had just told Danny and Cole that Ash had only been missing for a year when they knew for a fact that he had been gone for around 25 years. Danny decided the best course of action was the most direct course.

"Pikachu, what year is it?" he asked. Pikachu gave an answer that would have been correct 24 years ago. Danny sighed and pulled out his pokedex. He pushed a few buttons and it visually, as well as verbally, gave the date of the trainer's registration and the current date. Pikachu stared in horror at the electronic device. How could it be? 24 years that he didn't experience. What was going on? He was starting to panic when a voice that sounded familiar to him spoke from behind the group.

"Hello, Pikachu!" greeted the childish voice. They all turned around to come face-to-face with a floating, pink, cat-like thing. Pikachu recognized it immediately.

"Mew!" he shouted joyfully. The legendary pokemon swooped down and tackled him playfully. Danny and Cole were awestruck.

"MEW?!?!?!" they shouted in unison. Mew had begun tickling Pikachu, but stopped when the two Aura users shouted. She looked at them and smiled.

"Yep." she said. "That's me!" Danny and Cole felt like they needed to bow or something but only succeeded in falling over. Pikachu tackled Mew when she was distracted with laughing at them.

"What on earth are you doing here?" he asked as he wrestled with the legendary. Mew got free of Pikachu's grip and hovered a few feet in the air. Once she stopped, she put a paw behind her head and smiled sheepishly.

"Actually, I was supposed to be here when you woke up." she admitted, "I forgot." Pikachu also fell over at this point, but was back on his feet after a second. Danny and Cole had also gotten back on their feet and were staring at the legendary that was floating in front of them.

"You two know each other?" asked Danny.

"Yes." said Pikachu, "Mew is the only reason that Ash went to the Tree of Beginning in the first place." Danny was understandably confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Mew held her sheepish-smile and paw-behind-head pose.

"I brought Pikachu there to play with me." she said, "I didn't realize how much Ash was attached to him and didn't expect him to come after him." Danny looked at her with disbelief.

"That whole fiasco was _your_ fault?" he asked, astonished. Mew's smile faded and was replaced with a look of guilty sadness.

"You don't have to be so mean about it." she said, sadly. Danny, feeling guilty and scared about upsetting a Legendary, quickly apologized. Mew dismissed the apology, explaining that she kind of deserved it. Cole, who had been silent for the entire exchange, finally spoke up.

"So, why are you here?" he asked, seeing that they had gone very off-topic. Mew glanced at him, surprised by the sudden comment.

"A Lucario?" she asked, apparently just realizing what Cole was, "You really are just like him." The second comment was directed at Danny. The pair tilted their heads slightly at Mew's comments. "Anyway," started Mew, "I am here to explain how and why Pikachu is here." Pikachu's ears perked up at the hint of an explanation. Mew turned to him. "Alright, here goes nothing. After the Tree incident, I felt that I really owed you guys a favor after all the trouble I caused. I went to see my friend Celebi to see if she knew about anything that would happen to you that I could help you out with. She told me about the virus that had infected Ash and I decided that I would try to stop it, but by the time I got to you, Ash had already taken off. I knew from Celebi that we wouldn't be able to find Ash for at least 20 years after that point and that your lifespan wasn't nearly that long. So, I waited until you crossed the would-be path of Danny and Cole here and put you into stasis until they got here so that you could meet up with Ash again by going with them on their journey to Mt. Coronet."

If anyone had passed by during this explanation, they would have been confused to see a human and two pokemon listening to a floating cat say: "Mew mew mew mew." Mew finished the long-winded explanation and was out of breath. The group was silent for a moment before Danny spoke.

"Well," he began, "I think that the only thing we can say is 'thanks'." The entire group shot him looks of confusion. "I am thankful for meeting Pikachu, as I'm sure Cole is as well, and Pikachu will be thankful for meeting up with Ash again. So, what can we say to the person who made it all possible besides 'thanks'?" he explained. The group members pondered this for a moment and agreed in their own ways. Cole nodded, Pikachu did his signature 'peace-sign' pose, and Mew was apparently overcome with emotion because she flew over and hugged Danny. Danny, although startled by this and not entirely sure of the safety in hugging a Legendary, hugged Mew back. Mew was very soft and Danny felt happy holding her. They released each other and Mew smiled at them all. She flew off into the distance, but Danny received one last word of wisdom:

"The Aura is with you, Danny. Trust it. We'll be seeing each other again." Danny knew that he was the only one to hear this, as it was directed at him and no one else. The trio packed up their camp and left for Mt. Coronet with a newfound sense of purpose.

Giovanni practically jumped out of the elevator when it stopped. He ran down the hallway and came to the restricted access door. It was in pieces. Project Juggernaut had already escaped. He followed the trail of carnage and destruction through the hallways. He stopped at a videophone long enough to give the order to complete an emergency landing if they didn't hear from him in 10 minutes. After hanging up, continued his run down the hallways. There were bodies and equipment lying everywhere. Juggernaut needed to be stopped. He caught up with him a few minutes later, as he was clawing his way through another blast door. The figure with red hair stopped his efforts when he smelled Giovanni behind him.

"Hello, Junior." said Giovanni calmly. Junior spun around, his eyes filled with hatred.

"I told you not to call me that!!" he growled. Giovanni laughed. Junior charged at him with lightning speed. Just before impact, Giovanni sidestepped with greater speed than a human should have been capable of. This resulted in Junior slamming into the wall behind the spot where Giovanni had just been standing. Junior pulled his head out of the wall and turned to face Giovanni. "So, you have a few tricks as well." he said. Giovanni glared at him, causing him to cringe.

"I never create anything that I can't beat myself." replied Giovanni as he formed a ball of dark purple energy in his hand. He released it at Junior, throwing him back into the wall. Giovanni heard Junior's bones break from the force of the impact. He body slammed the still dazed Junior and pushed him through the reinforced wall and into the room on the other side. Upon landing, Giovanni used the momentum to rebound off of the fallen Junior and jump into the air. He landed gracefully a few yards away, not a scratch on him. Junior was out cold. He smiled triumphantly and pulled out his cell phone.

"It's Giovanni. Cancel emergency landing. I need a retrieval team to take Project Juggernaut back to the Lab." he said. He looked around him. "And send the Janitorial crew down here. This place is a mess." He shut his phone and walked through the hole in the wall. Upon returning to his office, he sat down in his chair and released Delilah. She was angry with him for not letting her fight and shot a few stronger embers at him. The purple energy surrounded his hand and he deflected the embers. Delilah was amazed by this. She had only ever seen this once before, with that man who saved her and brought her to Master Giovanni. Giovanni grinned as the energy dissipated. "You think I could control all of this without a few special tricks?" he asked her. She smiled at him and jumped into his lap. He stroked her and she went to sleep. Suddenly, a pink ball of floating fur appeared in front of him. Giovanni was completely unfazed by the event. He looked Mew right in the eye. "What are you doing here?" he asked, peeved. Mew just smiled and flew around his office a few times. She landed on the desk in front of him and grinned. Giovanni's frown deepened to the point where you could swear his chin was detachable.

"What are you going to do about this situation?" asked Mew. Giovanni wasn't expecting this question and didn't really have an answer.

"What situation?" he asked. Mew's smile widened to the extent that Giovanni's frown had.

"So, it runs in the family." Mew commented to herself before redirecting his attention back to Giovanni. "You know," she explained, "the whole 'do what you think is right' thing." Giovanni was going to ask how Mew knew about that, but remembered that this pink cat thing that was playing with its tail in front of him was actually a Legendary pokemon. It was at this point that Delilah woke up because Giovanni had stopped stroking her. She looked at him and then in the direction that he was looking. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"What on earth is Mew doing here?!" she shouted. Giovanni looked down at her and Mew also looked in her direction. Mew smiled.

"Hello, little Vulpix!" she greeted, "Would you like to play with me?" Delilah shot a fireball at her. Mew formed a shield and deflected the ball.

"You're upsetting Master Giovanni!" she growled, "Leave!" Giovanni was worried now.

"Delilah," he said, "Do you realize that Mew is a Legendary pokemon?" Delilah began to rub her head against Giovanni.

"I don't care!" she said, "I'm going to fight whatever upsets you, Master Giovanni!" She turned back to Mew and released a stream of fire at her. Mew teleported out of the way and used Hypnosis. She had no intention of fighting. Delilah promptly fell asleep once again. Giovanni just glared at the floating Legendary. Mew gave him the most serious look she could manage.

"You can't buy loyalty like that, Giovanni." commented Mew. Giovanni's glare softened ever so slightly. "She truly does love you." Giovanni's stare softened even more. Small tears formed in Mew's eyes. "Love her back, Giovanni." With that, Mew teleported off to God knows where. Giovanni smiled as he stroked the sleeping Vulpix.

"I already do, Mew." he said to the empty room, "I already do."


	9. Welcome Back Part 1

**Author's Note-**  
Okay, so it took me all of five minutes to edit this. :) Here's chapter 9. Part 2 is currently in the works, but I don't know if it will be very long compared to this one. Anywho, enjoy and please review.

**Chapter Nine: Welcome Back- Part 1**

The lantern flickered, oblivious to the event taking place. Danny looked at his hand and turned his attention to Cole. Cole stared back for a minute before casting a glance at Pikachu. Pikachu just smiled at him and threw a plastic disk into the center of the group.

"Five." he said. Danny looked over his cards and squinted at Pikachu. He threw one of his own disks into the center, adding to the pile.

"Call." he replied. Cole viewed his hand and then put it down on the ground.

"Fold." he answered. Pikachu grinned and looked at Danny. Danny glared at him. Pikachu laid his cards face-up on the ground in front of him.

"Full House." he sneered. Danny groaned in defeat and tossed his cards into the center. He bowed his head.

"How do you do that, Pikachu?" he asked the smiling electric rodent as it gathered its winnings. Pikachu just smiled.

"It's impossible!" shouted Cole. Danny was surprised by his outburst and looked at him. Cole threw his own cards into the center and fell backwards onto the ground. "Defeated by a mouse a tenth of my size!" He curled into a ball and rocked from side to side. Danny felt like joining him, but was determined to win at least one hand. He gathered the cards and began to shuffle.

"Haven't you learned your lesson?" asked Pikachu. Danny glared at him as he dealt the cards.

"I swear on my soul that I will win, you electric spawn of Satan!!!" he exclaimed. He looked at his hand and tossed a disk into the center. "Ten." he said. Pikachu smiled. Leaning against a tree about 20 yards away, a figure laughed softly.

"You never change, Pikachu." he commented. He watched the group with interest as they continued their game. Danny eventually ran out of disks and had to borrow some from Cole. Cole didn't seem to mind, as he was still rocking on the ground. The figure laughed again. He gasped as he saw Pikachu's ears perk up. "Crap." he muttered as he turned around to run. He didn't get very far because he spun right into Cole.

"And where do you think you're going?" asked Cole, smiling.

"At this point, not the way I want to be going." the figure replied, holding up his hands in surrender. He turned around and walked towards the campsite. Cole followed behind him. Danny dropped his cards and stood up as they got closer. Pikachu climbed up onto Danny's shoulder. The figure was a man about 5' 8" and in his mid-30's. He was wearing navy blue pants and black boots with a matching shirt/vest combo and a black outer cape. He wore a pair of black gloves with a small, circular crystal on the back of each. He had amber eyes and jet black, untidy hair that was partially hidden underneath a navy blue fedora.

"Hello, Ash." said Danny, "Pikachu, I believe there's something you would like to say at this point?" Pikachu jumped down and Volt Tackled Ash into a tree. Danny, although expecting something of this nature, hadn't expected the tree to crack under the stress of the impact. Pikachu, apparently, hadn't been expecting that either because he was now looking Ash over to make sure he was still living. He was breathing, but didn't look like he was going to be conscious anytime soon. Danny chuckled weakly.

"I know you were mad at him, Pikachu, but a little restraint would have been good." he said as the electric mouse tried to wake Ash. Pikachu put a hand behind his head and tried to look as innocent as possible. "That is really going to hurt when he wakes up." Danny commented. He looked over at the pile of cards and disks. "Another round, guys?" he asked. Cole's eye twitched and said he was going to look after Ash instead. Pikachu smiled mischievously and ran over to the game area. Danny followed Pikachu, steadfast in his mission to win at least one hand of cards against Pikachu.

Ash knew that he was dreaming, but he didn't care. He was with her again. He looked at her with adoration. He looked at her light brown hair, flowing from the green and white bandanna that held it prisoner. He saw the same dazzling blue eyes as before and was lost in them. She was truly beautiful--

"NO!"

Ash woke up to the sound of shouting. He heard someone proclaiming victory and someone else weeping. He opened his eyes and saw Pikachu dancing on top of a pile of plastic poker chips. Next to him, Danny was curled up in a ball and rocking back and forth muttering something about impossibilities. It was day now, and the sudden light caused Ash to squint. He tried to move, but was met with a wave of nauseating pain in his head. He relaxed back into a seated position. He felt something grab him and looked up to see a lucario examining him.

"Hey!" he shouted at the others, "He's awake!" Ash wished he hadn't shouted. He grabbed his head and groaned.

"Take it easy on the shouting, please." he requested quietly. The lucario held up two digits and Ash instinctively answered that number. Pikachu came up to him and glared. Danny stood above him and smiled.

"You know that you deserved worse than that." commented Danny. Ash glanced at him and slumped as much as he could while sitting.

"Yeah." he replied, "I know." He turned his attention back to Pikachu. "I'm sorry." he said, "Forgive me?" Pikachu looked at the ground, as if seriously questioning whether or not to forgive his best friend. He responded to the question by jumping on his shoulder and rubbing his head against Ash's neck. "Thanks buddy." Ash said as he pet him a little. Even a gap of 25 years had not lessened their friendship. Danny chuckled and kneeled down to be eye level with the sitting Ash Ketchum.

"Head hurt much?" he asked. Ash started to nod, but stopped after he felt that same wave of pain. Danny already knew that Ash's head was killing him, but he couldn't resist the urge to mess with him.

"You're evil." Ash whispered with a weak smile. Danny gasped overdramatically.

"I am not evil." he responded, "I just wanted to see if you were tired enough to fall for that." He laughed quietly as he stood up and offered his hand to Ash. Ash smiled as he took the youth's hand. He used the tree for support as he stood. Danny's handhold didn't do a whole lot as he was only a little over four feet in height. When Ash was finally upright, he almost fell over again due to lightheadedness. Danny and Cole caught him, much to his surprise, and helped him walk over to the campsite.

"Man..." he grumbled, "Pikachu, how hard did you hit me?" Pikachu lowered his head.

"I may have overdone it a little..." he admitted. Ash looked back at the tree he had been leaning against. His eyes widened when he saw that it had buckled slightly from an impact. He looked at Pikachu with a mix of wonder, anger, and fear. If it was possible, Pikachu would have drooped even lower. Ash, knowing his partner's feelings, quickly sought to improve his mood.

"It's all right, Pikachu." he encouraged, "I did deserve it after-" His voice faltered slightly. "After what I did." His head drooped. It was Pikachu's turn to encourage his trainer and friend. He patted him on the head. Simple, yes, but effective nonetheless. Ash drooped a little less and was in better spirits. Well, better is technically true, but it was hard for him to all that happy with him feeling as miserable as he did. Danny and Cole helped him sit down next to the semi-established dining area. "Thanks, Daniel and... um..." Ash didn't know the Lucario's name. Cole was a little embarrassed about forgetting to introduce himself.

"Oh, I'm Cole." he said. Ash extended his hand and Cole mimicked the gesture.

"Nice to meet you." said Ash with a feeble smile as he shook Cole's paw.

"You too." replied Cole, being careful not to speak too loudly. Danny brought over a canteen and some of the food left over from breakfast. Ash attempted to restrain himself, but failed. He gulped down the food as though he hadn't eaten since he left 25 years ago. Cole was amazed.

"Wow." he remarked, "You eat like Danny." He smiled and laughed at his own comment. Ash chuckled softly. Cole, Ash, and Pikachu continued their friendly conversation, but Danny was deep in thought as he stared at Ash. _I know him._ He thought, _I've never seen him before, but I know him. Brock might have described him for me, but I shouldn't have been able to identify him that easily. Where have I seen him? How do I know him? Wait a minute..._ Danny remembered the dream he'd been having.

"_This is my son..._

_...Goodbye, Daniel._"

A metaphorical slap in face occurred as he finally made the connection. He jumped up and pointed at Ash.

"YOU!!" he shouted. Cole and Pikachu were stunned by his reaction, but Ash just drooped.

"Yeah..." Ash replied, "That's right, Daniel." Cole and Pikachu were clueless. Cole tried to sense what Danny was freaking out about, but Danny forced him out of his head.

"_Wait for it, Cole._" said Danny telepathically. Cole stopped his attempts and waited.

"I'm sorry, Daniel." Ash continued, "I had to do it. Your mother died after giving birth to you and I couldn't raise a child on my own. I-- I-- I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be like my father and leave you, but I didn't-- I didn't know what to do. I did the best thing I could think of. I left you in the care of one of my closest friends. I'm sorry." Danny was standing with his fists clenched. Ash had a few tears in his eyes. Cole and Pikachu were wide-eyed as they realized they were watching an argument between father and son. Danny looked at Ash, his eyes blood red.

"I blame you." said Danny calmly. He turned around and punched the ground behind him. The ground shuddered from the impact. Danny pulled his hand out of the crater and turned back to the group. His eyes were closer to their normal color, but not quite there yet. "I'll be back in a while." he said to the rest, "If anyone follows me, they'll regret it." He walked away from the camp and into the forest. Ash sighed and looked at Cole.

"So," he said, "The virus already woke." Cole looked at him and nodded.

"It happened the day that-- the day that Brock died." replied Cole as he held back tears that surfaced with the memory of Brock's death. Ash patted him in a reassuring manner.

"This is why I confused him for you!" exclaimed Pikachu. Ash and Cole turned to look at him. "When I first met Danny, I confused him for you, Ash. He smelled like you and had the same general appearance as you. So, since I only experienced a year of your disappearance as opposed to 25, I thought he was you." Ash understood the confusion, but was himself confused about the "one year" comment. He inquired about it and Pikachu explained. Ash was astounded that Mew would actually intervene, but was thankful that she had. Cole and Pikachu took turns explaining what had happened up until this point. Ash was impressed with their exploits so far, especially with James' new leaf. Eventually, it was Ash's turn to be questioned.

"What have you been doing for 25 years?" asked Pikachu. Ash frowned at him.

"I can't tell you yet." he replied, "I think that Danny deserves to be here when I answer that." Pikachu was saddened by this news, but promised to wait. Cole was only curious about one thing.

"What is it that Danny is blaming you for?" he asked. Ash sighed.

"Brock." answered Ash, "He blames me for Brock's death." Cole gave him a surprised look.

"What?" responded Cole. "He can't blame you for that. You had no way to stop Giovanni from shooting Brock!" Ash bowed his head and a few tears fell from his eyes. Pikachu climbed back onto his shoulder and patted his head.

"You're wrong, Cole." replied Ash, much to the surprise of both pokemon. "If I would've had the guts to come back face my son, Brock never would have been on the journey. If I hadn't been so scared of what might have happened, Brock would be alive today. Danny has every right to blame me for it."

"No, I don't." interjected Danny. The group turned to see him standing at the edge of the campsite. His eyes were back to normal and he was crying. He walked over and kneeled down next to Ash. "Even if you had come back sooner, Brock would have come along anyway. Giovanni said that he wanted the Aura. Even if you had been there, he would've shot Brock anyway. I can't blame you for an event that neither of us could have stopped. I'm sorry." Danny leaned forward and hugged his father as he began to sob. Ash hugged his son and started to cry himself. Cole, ever the emotional sort, joined the two in their moment. Pikachu, already on Ash's shoulder, decided to join in too. They sat for the longest time, none of them willing to let the outside world intersect and ruin their own. Eventually, the real world won out. They released each other and sat in the clearing in which their campsite had been placed. They sat in silence until Danny stood up and walked over to his bag. He grabbed it and walked back to the rest of the group. He smiled at Ash.

"What are you up to?" asked Ash, seeing Danny's smile. Danny's smiled increased in intensity.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands." said Danny. Ash complied and felt two items fall into his hands. "Open them." said Danny. Ash opened his eyes and was astonished with what he found in his hands: his pokedex and Pikachu's pokeball. He looked at Danny with disbelief.

"I didn't know that Brock even kept these!" said Ash as he attached the ball to his belt and put his pokedex in his pocket. Danny's smile threatened to circumnavigate his head.

"Welcome back, Dad."

Somewhere in Hoenn, she woke up from her dream. She sighed as she realized that it was just that, a dream. She had been dreaming about him, about Ash. She pulled out his picture and smiled. Every fiber of her being told her that he was back and she would see him soon. She was just going to have to wait.

**Author's Note 2**-  
I forgot to mention that I am working on the storyline for a sequel. In all honesty, I could probably just tack it onto the end of this one, but I want to make sure that there is a distinction between this story and its descendant. As a warning, the world gets a little twisted in the sequel and the rating will be bumped up to an "M."


End file.
